1. Pride and Prejudice is a Jane Austen masterpiece and probably her most famous novel of all. The book I loved, and I also loved all the versions of this movie. I've seen most of them Bride and Prejudice (Indian Version), 1980 version, and even the newest Hollywood version. However the best one (in my opinion) was the BBC version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle as Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. This one like the 1980 version was true to the book, but it also vamped up the sex appeal and romance between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. It's very long and the DVD is divided in two, but I can assure that it will be 4 hrs well spent, trust me its good. The Bennet's are a middle class family with 5 girls growing up in the English 19th century. Where a woman's only hope of survival and success was to marry well to a man who was her equal or higher in society. This was a great distress to their mother whose sole purpose in life was to ensure her daughters became married. What happens in this movie is nothing short of entertaining, as it reinforces the theme of looks and perhaps characters can be very deceiving.
2. Gone with the Wind- Never could I have imagined that there would've been so much sex appeal in a movie that came out in 1939. Overlooking the racial undertones, this is one of my favourite movies, I saw it when I was younger and hated it. It was long and boring, the only thing I liked about it as a child were the pretty dresses. Somehow I ended watching it recently on one of those nights when insomnia was attacking me and I couldn't get enough of Clark Gable (Rhett Butler). They don't make male leads like that anymore, the chemistry between him and Vivian Leigh (Scarlett) was amazing. I kept rewinding the movie to the parts where they were on screen together (my fave movie couple). The movie tells of the time when America was in the civil war and one woman's struggle to survive this trying period. Scarlett O Hara was a beautiful woman that was used to having her way, all her life, but this comes crashing down when Ashley (the man she thinks she loves) marries another woman. She's spends her whole life using her beauty and charms trying to win him back, using and disposing of men along the journey. Not realizing, until she loses him that Rhett Butler was the one she really loved.
3. Pretty Woman- A modern (well not today) fairytale about a hooker (Julia Roberts) that falls in love and is rescued by the dashing prince/millionaire (Richard Gere). Totally stereotypical, but I love it all the same Julia was amazing as Vivian the prostitute with a heart of gold who ends up hooking up with a bored millionaire John. Edward Lewis is in LA for 1 week and hooks up with Vivian after getting directions from her, he asks her to stay with him for the duration of his trip paying her $4000. He introduces her to a world she's never known, takes her shopping, wines and dines her, even falling in love with her. She possesses something that he hasn't seen in a long time, she's genuine and innocent, and changes him for the better. This was one of the only films I loved the very first time I saw it at the tender age of 5. Perhaps I was able to recognize that this was a fairytale like all the other ones I loved at that age.
4.The Notebook-I love this movie and its perhaps one of the few romantic movies where the couple actually stays together. Its told in flashback style where Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) and Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) two teens from different ends of the economic spectrum fall in love over the summer. However they're torn apart by pressure from her parents who want her to find someone who's in her social and economic status. Her parents succeed for a little while, that is until faith has its way before her wedding and what happens is nothing short of magical. These two give a Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh serious competition in the chemistry department. Theirs was so real that it transferred into an off screen romance that went on for years.
5. Bright Star- This is the saddest movie I've seen in a long time, and its also the only one in my top 5 that's based on reality. The movie describes famous poet Tom Keats's love affair with his "Bright Star" Fanny Brawne and their relationship through out his short life. He's introduced to fashion adoring Fanny and they form an attachment when he teaches her poetry. As it usually went in that time he loved her, but they were unable to marry because he didn't have the money or the means to do so. The two however continued their attachment despite disapproval from family a friends. Their love was one so strong that Fanny wouldn't eat when he was away and suffered emotional breakdowns if he didn't write, or his letters were too short. Eventually he becomes ill and dies and Fanny has a mental breakdown, and for the duration of her life she remains detached from reality carrying their love until her end. It was very depressing, but the story of their love was beautiful.
No comments:
Post a Comment