Quinoa1984

The Ear is a sort of simmering but nonetheless piping-hot pot-boiler where it is less like the symbol of the frogs slowly boiling than two frogs who know what the pot is all about but can't pull themselves out (the tongues don't have much leverage in a Communist totalitarian block, especially when the male frogs has a role in the bureaucracy). There may be a conspiracy theory afoot or a marriage that is crumbling under the weight of a job that is untenable, and the combination of the two makes for an intense viewing.

I found some of that eerie, awfully compelling Kafka-esque psychological mania here in the sense that there is *something* going on that is out to get Ludvik (Brzobahaty) while Anna (Bodhalova) stands by going increasingly crazy and incensed and see-sawing between the fear of the whole situation and the fear that her husband may be a complete jerk, but it is not fully clear why the ministry has the "Ear" listening in. But it is also about what it means to have a marriage that is tested not simply by the scope of one man's inability to do something about his situation but also being surrounded by other men who may just want to get drunk... very drunk, indeed.

It is easy to see why this got banned at the time - it may be a minor miracle the film rolls weren't seized or destroyed before they left the lab after being developed - because it is a film that questions power and moreover questions the roles that people have when they are facing you head, like say on at a party and asking passive-aggressive questions (those moments at the gathering that Ludvik flashes back to may be the few parts that have a stylistic affectation, but it is effective). If this was seen by a public at the time that was told always what to do, would everyone start checking their houses for "Ears," too?

But the film's greatest strengths is not in one single political message but in depicting the psychic and psychological toll on this couple. Bodhalova especially is giving the kind of performance that, like in a Cassavetes film or even with Bergman, is at any moment going to burst outside of the seams of the screen and shake you in your seat. She makes accusations, she waits, she cries, she hugs, she demands, she is losing her mind (her male counterpart is also quite good too, but has to be the calmer one and do the "quiet down" thing so many times). And such a massive physical performance as well, throwing her body into every beat like when she goes from yelling at her husband at the closed door to jumping to the bed to hide from consequences.

The direction and camerawork has an intensity, but she comes in and brings brings a kind of fire that is still just... love. And what is a greater threat to an authoritarian surveillance state than love? One flaw for me: the very ending feels oddly anti-climactic. Still, an extraordinary gem of a film.

One of the things to watch for with The Nutty Professor is to see Jerry Lewis's physicality as a performer. It is hard to escape what his reputation is as a film stylist and what all of that may or may not represent, and there are some awesome uses of the camera and in composition and blocking and so on (I quite liked the hand-held, not very common for big Hollywood films in 1962, where it is the inception for Buddy Love from his point of view staggering across the street, great suspense there).

But notice near the end just how extraordinary it is bit by bit Lewis goes from Buddy to Kelp again, in the voice and then the teeth and hair and even his slouch gets into a different form, not to mention the glasses. Only Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent "becoming" Superman front of Lois in Superman 2 comes close to that kind of "Oh, wow" level of seeing an actor, more than make up or anything else, use subtle and then grand touches to get us to believe they are becoming someone else. That is the kind of talent that Lewis had as someone who knew how to use every bit of his body - and in some scenes here like when as Kelp has to meet at his meekest/most embarrassing point early on with his superior it is with the furniture as well - to transform fully.

As for the film around this remarkable actor who I am only now, at just the right time for it in my 40s (it was either that or at the age of 6 or 7 and my parents just did not think of JL either way, probably more on the negative end I would guess), the original Nutty Professor largely holds up because of Lewis and as well his excellent chemistry, as both the awkward and OCD nerd and the abrasive Playboy, with Stella Stevens who is just the right level of "I am smart enough to be at this college but not smart enough to tell these two meshugenah Jews apart" and there are set pieces like Kelp at the gym and dancing that are a lot of fun to see.

I do think the remake with Eddie Murphy, which is definitely broad in its own right and flawed as far as "ooh, FAT, right" which has aged as well as pictures of me at 6 or 7, is superior inasmuch as giving equal weight to the characterizations. I read that Lewis did not particularly like (really hated) playing Buddy Love and waited till the end of the production to do those scenes - maybe he had to work himself up to get into full Rat Pack mode (it isnt just Dino but Frank and anyone else who Lewis must have seen vaguely Italian and slimy and always at .10 BAC alcohol to get inspired from) - but curiously Lewis's own writing for Buddy is lacking. He's suave and has newfound talent as a singer and piano man, and is like half a note when it comes to being a pushy creep (at a certain point you might wonder if Stella will just go back to the original bully that sent Kelp off on his scientific misadventure).

The point is while the Buddy Love scenes are enjoyable it is much more surface enjoyment than the time Lewis puts into his titular character, and it is there he puts all the effort and pathos. It does pay in the end and that final Transformation "Be Yourselr" speech pays off somewhat because of the time as Kelp, but it also feels like "well, good riddance Buddy" because there was no other dimension to Buddy except "yeah, he should get punched across the room many times over." That may have been Lewis's point, but he ultimately is more obnoxious than actually bad and it makes for a more surface level transformation, ironically given how much Lewis must have done to try and "become" in large part his former comedy partner.

So, very good comedy! But an all time classic? Your mileage may vary. Where can I get that bird by the way?

The Snake Pit is one of those times where you may know it is not exactly a *great* movie - in fact it is for at least three or four reasons off the top of my head wildly dated (both due to advancements in science and pharmaceuticals and treatment in general and in how to show someone drowning in a fake ocean, and until Virginia goes to floor 1 every nurse is an abject cartoon terror) - but holy mother of pearl Olivia De Havilland just steps in to every scene wired to 100 and then goes to 250 by the end of each one.

Frankly, this is a performance that lifts up everyone else around her and that includes Litvak's claustrophobic and doggedly PoV-driven direction, and that includes her (unintentional) wisecracks and total bewilderment at everyone who yells at her. I mean there is literally a "the food is really terrible... and such small portions" moment in a cafeteria scene and you want to reach in to the screen and knock everyone down and just do SOMETHING to help this poor lady.

There are scenes that do not just verge on histrionics or over the top flights of Past Trauma Flashback mania, it dives in to them to show the full weight of what Virginia went through and her abandonment issues (and of course grief over losing a parent at a formative age) but the second paternal figure that was lost to the always-impactful Truck of Doom (you know it when you see it).

There are also scenes with the other mental patients in the wards, particularly when Virginia has a kind of psychological relapse and is sent back down to "floor 33" and the image of the title of the film is shown, that can be more hit or miss: sometimes the acting by these women is so out of control it takes away from the harsher drama of the scene, while other times it is so startling that you are still locked in and feeling for Virginia to get help in some way or form. And eventually there is even pathos in a dancing set piece with what appears to be all the patients and the doctors that culminates in a song that brings people to tears (maybe not Paths of Glory but close enough).

Of course, The Snake Pit is not something to hold up as an example of how the Mental Healthcare world would or should be today in any stretch - just continually electro-shocking someone into passivity is just bonkers by any stretch and should have been in 1948, not to mention Nurse Davis played like a B movie harridan with the Venom up to 11 by Helen Craig - but it is worthwhile as a heated character study and a stunning vehicle for an actress who immediately draws you in with her terrified eyes and perplexed voice overs.