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Reviews
Mafioso (1962)
Other Reviewers Missed
Contains Spoiler I just saw this movie which was certainly as wonderful as most of the other reviewers are saying.
But one thing several of the other reviewers seemed to miss (to me, at least) was that the entire culture of his hometown was invested in his doing his little errand for the Don. The societal structure is based on doing "favors" for each other. The Don does a favor for his parents, his parents in turn, turn on a dime in their treatment of their Northern Italian daughter-in-law in order to get her to be willing to stay for a few extra days. His father presumably has some idea of the kind of errand he's actually going to be going on.
Everything operates from a complex web of familial and social obligations, guilt and fear and he's completely trapped. Not just his wife and children but his parents and sister could all be forfeit if he doesn't do what they want him to do.
He only has one skill they care about; his marksmanship. His humanity, his pride, his love for his family; none of that means anything to them.
This is a scathing indictment of what brutality, not just Mafia brutality, can do to the human spirit and the acting is wonderful.
Keeping Up Appearances (1990)
Hyacinth will never win
Lucy Ricardo wants to be in show business, but Hyacinth Bucket wants to be upper class. It's not an accident that these shows have been compared because both touch on a central nerve in their respective countries' psyches. Lucy will never make it, although Lucille Ball did. Ditto Hyacinth, although the actress Patricia Routledge is magnificent. Both of them excel at physical comedy and both of them express a longing experienced by countless others in their impossible aspirations.
A working class Paul McCartney can still buck the system in England and end up with a title, but the bottom line is that England still has a Queen, a royal family, an aristocracy and a house of Lords and a highly stratified social system.
Despite her family's relentless assaults on her aspirations, simply by being exactly who they are, Hyacinth stubbornly refuses to give up. She drives everyone insane and she is hilarious. Because the reality is that England will tolerate all kinds of crazy behavior from an eccentric peer but historically ordinary people are expected to "know their place" (although that may be changing) We KNOW the mysterious aristocracy will never accept her, but she keeps at it. Her triumph is that she's relentless; no matter how many knocks she takes, she refuses to acknowledge them, she keeps coming back. We know what Onslow knows, that the only way to win this game is to not be in it, but Hyacinth is forever game, dragging her husband, family and friends behind her into her imaginary world where her name is pronounced "bouquet" not "bucket." I love to watch her gamely leap into the fray week after week trying to extract some small victory from every situation. Knowing her would be exhausting as Emmet keeps telling us, but watching her at it is a hoot.
7th Heaven (1996)
Unspoken subtexts
first of all, the reason Mary became "the bad girl" was because Jessica Biel was bored with her role, and I have no doubt that the reason she hasn't been back is her choice. She just doesn't want to do it anymore.
I'm fascinated by what isn't talked about in this show. On the surface, it preaches abstinence all the time, meanwhile half the kids are having sex or thinking about having sex.
Without saying so on the surface, the "messes" that several of the kids get into are the result of not having decent sex education or using birth control. Of course, abortion is legal but no one ever mentions that. This show is a good argument for teaching teenagers about responsible birth control, and not just to prevent pregnancy but to prevent disease as well. It's like a forties movie when they had the Hays code and you couldn't even show a married husband and wife in the same bed. It's in a time warp.
Conflicts between generations are accurately reflected, it's just that this show could have taken place in the sixties.
As for all the different characters, it's obviously a showcase for young actors like Ashlee Simpson.
As for the issue of the week, good for them. Families across the country and communities are struggling with a lot of of these issues. this is what television does. With the exception of their anachronistic denial about teenage sexuality, dealing with these issues in a family framework is relevant and important.
As a cultural artifact, it fascinates me.
Bye Bye Braverman (1968)
Bye Bye Braverman
The description of this movie fails to convey how totally hilarious it actually is, although it gives a partial idea of its bittersweet qualities. Throughout the movie, we see things through the eyes of one of the main characters who keeps imagining his own death. His own pessimistic fantasies contrasted with the absurd predicaments the four friends keep getting into are a riot, and at the same time, convey human frailties most poignantly. There are wonderful cameo performances by Jessica Walter, Alan King and Godfrey Cambridge and others that are worth the price of admission all by themselves. The movie has a distinctly ethnic Jewish sensibility and a real New York feeling as we follow the characters from Greenwich Village to Brooklyn as they look for the funeral parlor for the dead Braverman. Oh, how I wish I could buy this movie on DVD! It's just wonderful. If you ever get a chance to see it, run to the theater!