Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 24, 2020 20:01:20 GMT -8
Bay of Angels. If there’s a bay in here somewhere, I might have missed it, although they do eventually make their way to Monte Carlo which is on the water. I just don’t know if it’s on a bay.
This 1963 French film is about a guy who is bored in his job and life and decides to hit the road and take up gambling. It’s sort of a coming-of-dumb-ass film, as opposed to coming-of-age film.
Along the way he meets Jackie, a platinum blond (Marilyn is all the rage these days) who has a bit of a gambling problem. Well, she has more problems than that, but that is a big one.
Jeanne Moreau is extraordinary in the part of Jackie. I don’t think you can teach the look she has in her eyes. She desperate, more than a bit trashy, and yet even if what comprises her zest for life is a little reckless and compulsive, she at least has . . . well, I can’t think how to end that sentence. And that’s appropriate because she plays a person with something quite vacant inside her.
And Claude Mann does kinda-sorta play a believable dumb-ass as Jean Fournier who gets roped into things just for the excitement. It’s only a 90 minute film, so they do not thankfully let this drag on forever.
But there’s enough going on, along with character interest, that it’s enjoyable if you like foreign movies. I need someone else to watch this so they can explain the ending to me. I get that it’s sort of left up in the air what happens to them. And I suppose it’s actually okay the way it ends. But it’s a bit of a letdown. You want at least one or the other to jump off the hotel balcony in despair from having (again) lost all his or her money.
The setup of the bored life of Jean Fournier is almost non-existent which undermines his part of the film. That’s why he comes off not as a Wanderlust heart who naively falls into mischief. Instead he just comes across as a dumb-ass.
This 1963 French film is about a guy who is bored in his job and life and decides to hit the road and take up gambling. It’s sort of a coming-of-dumb-ass film, as opposed to coming-of-age film.
Along the way he meets Jackie, a platinum blond (Marilyn is all the rage these days) who has a bit of a gambling problem. Well, she has more problems than that, but that is a big one.
Jeanne Moreau is extraordinary in the part of Jackie. I don’t think you can teach the look she has in her eyes. She desperate, more than a bit trashy, and yet even if what comprises her zest for life is a little reckless and compulsive, she at least has . . . well, I can’t think how to end that sentence. And that’s appropriate because she plays a person with something quite vacant inside her.
And Claude Mann does kinda-sorta play a believable dumb-ass as Jean Fournier who gets roped into things just for the excitement. It’s only a 90 minute film, so they do not thankfully let this drag on forever.
But there’s enough going on, along with character interest, that it’s enjoyable if you like foreign movies. I need someone else to watch this so they can explain the ending to me. I get that it’s sort of left up in the air what happens to them. And I suppose it’s actually okay the way it ends. But it’s a bit of a letdown. You want at least one or the other to jump off the hotel balcony in despair from having (again) lost all his or her money.
The setup of the bored life of Jean Fournier is almost non-existent which undermines his part of the film. That’s why he comes off not as a Wanderlust heart who naively falls into mischief. Instead he just comes across as a dumb-ass.