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arf_she_saidThis entry is my first go participating in Nathaniel R's Hit Me With Your Best Shot series, and I'm sorry you guys, I think I am going to go overboard because there are so many things I want to say about this amazing movie.
Somehow I never knew Singin' in the Rain was a comedy. The first time I watched it I started out at half attention, mostly missing the homage/parody of the movie star arrivals, as well as some great hammy acting by Kelly, who spends so much of the movie throwing his giant vaudville smile out there. I missed the way he strides in, tooth-first, setting Don up as 99% performance; that bitchin strut is a definite contender for Best Gif.
Then it went and punched me in the face with a great series of gags, contrasting image with voiceover:
I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. Instant love. But it's all about the voiceover and the dancing. Can't Best Shot that. Can't even Best Gif that.
So it's hard to pick an image to represent this film, which is so much movement and sound. How do you illustrate a film as expressive as this, a performance as expressive as O'Connor's or Reynolds's, with a screencap? How do you contain the strength and fluidity of Kelly's dancing?
I love the contrast between how assembly-line the Monumental films are and how meticulously put together Singin' In the Rain is. I love how the whole film opens up as Don's heart expands, finally finding the wide spaces implied by all those trips across film stages, the proper setting for romance.
Obviously it's a movie about movies, about performance, and it embraces its own constructedness to the point where it doesn't evidence of its own fake walls get in the way of a merry walk.
That merriness, that verve and joy and concrete belief in the power of movement and performance is transcendent. That bazonkers delight in throwing yourself into routine for the sake of it, because you have joy in your heart or because you want to cheer someone up or because you have a profound dedication to the absurd; it's a beautiful and heartwarming manifesto to the power of connecting with people through entertainment.
So my Best Shot is about that connection. Don and Cosmo are a comic match made in heaven and huge chunks of movie are set aside to let us indulge in the joy of watching these two men with different styles and physiques play together. Their friendship -- its history, its caring and its shared joy in dance, and the magical way it expands painlessly to include Kathy -- feels so genuine and so much a part of the characters: Kelly and O'Connor sprinkle wonderful little moments throughout that make their friendship feel so lived in. I fall head over heels for acting that makes me feel like that.
The Moses Supposes routine might be my favourite of the numbers, maybe because it starts in their connection, so sweetly and absurdly and then just bursts into virtuosity. As they float across the floor they take a second to check in with each other:
Yup, still having a ball.
Runners Up: I have to mention this backstage moment that reaches through the x, y and z axes, a stunning dynamism that 3D films wish they could generate.
And finally, I'll admit to struggling with the Broadway Melody; I can't really connect to it. But it's undeniably gorgeous. And those are undienable legs.
Somehow I never knew Singin' in the Rain was a comedy. The first time I watched it I started out at half attention, mostly missing the homage/parody of the movie star arrivals, as well as some great hammy acting by Kelly, who spends so much of the movie throwing his giant vaudville smile out there. I missed the way he strides in, tooth-first, setting Don up as 99% performance; that bitchin strut is a definite contender for Best Gif.
Then it went and punched me in the face with a great series of gags, contrasting image with voiceover:
Our parents' society friends; rigorous musical training at the conservatory of fine arts; the finest symphonic halls; sunny California.
I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. Instant love. But it's all about the voiceover and the dancing. Can't Best Shot that. Can't even Best Gif that.
So it's hard to pick an image to represent this film, which is so much movement and sound. How do you illustrate a film as expressive as this, a performance as expressive as O'Connor's or Reynolds's, with a screencap? How do you contain the strength and fluidity of Kelly's dancing?
I love the contrast between how assembly-line the Monumental films are and how meticulously put together Singin' In the Rain is. I love how the whole film opens up as Don's heart expands, finally finding the wide spaces implied by all those trips across film stages, the proper setting for romance.
Obviously it's a movie about movies, about performance, and it embraces its own constructedness to the point where it doesn't evidence of its own fake walls get in the way of a merry walk.
That merriness, that verve and joy and concrete belief in the power of movement and performance is transcendent. That bazonkers delight in throwing yourself into routine for the sake of it, because you have joy in your heart or because you want to cheer someone up or because you have a profound dedication to the absurd; it's a beautiful and heartwarming manifesto to the power of connecting with people through entertainment.
So my Best Shot is about that connection. Don and Cosmo are a comic match made in heaven and huge chunks of movie are set aside to let us indulge in the joy of watching these two men with different styles and physiques play together. Their friendship -- its history, its caring and its shared joy in dance, and the magical way it expands painlessly to include Kathy -- feels so genuine and so much a part of the characters: Kelly and O'Connor sprinkle wonderful little moments throughout that make their friendship feel so lived in. I fall head over heels for acting that makes me feel like that.
The Moses Supposes routine might be my favourite of the numbers, maybe because it starts in their connection, so sweetly and absurdly and then just bursts into virtuosity. As they float across the floor they take a second to check in with each other:
Yup, still having a ball.
Runners Up: I have to mention this backstage moment that reaches through the x, y and z axes, a stunning dynamism that 3D films wish they could generate.
Debbie the Actually Great and Powerful.
And finally, I'll admit to struggling with the Broadway Melody; I can't really connect to it. But it's undeniably gorgeous. And those are undienable legs.
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What a glorious post!
Date: 2013-03-18 06:00 pm (UTC)Re: What a glorious post!
Date: 2013-03-20 06:49 am (UTC)