Ladies and gentlemen,
Are you in the mood for stimulating entertainment now and then, but don't want to leave your own four walls? Do you want this to be in the usual glamorous 1920s manner at best? But you don't want to waste your time on something that will only disappoint you? I've compiled a list of the 5 best and 5 worst films set in our favourite decade, along with a short summary and my personal review, so that your after-work programme can be as enjoyable as possible. A small note: The numbering is arbitrary and not to be understood as a ranking list.
The 5 best films;
Midnight in Paris
The Artist
The Great Gatsby (2013)
Bullets over Broadway
The Cat's Meow
The 5 worst film:
Bright Young Things
Love in Thoughts
The Great Gatsby (1974)
Babylon
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
The 5 best films in detail:
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Plot: A successful Hollywood screenwriter (Owen Wilson), who wants to try his hand at writing novels, spends a few days in the French capital with his fiancée (Rachel McAdams) and her parents. One night, as he is walking alone through the streets, a special kind of taxi stops in front of him and takes him back to the wild Paris of the 1920s. There he meets all the artistic celebrities of the time, which leads to some amusing encounters and developments.
Review: Midnight in Paris is one of my all-time favourite films. It is funny, intelligent, thoughtful and visually beautifully designed. The actors who embody the bohemians of the 1920s also cut a fine figure. Special mention should be made of Adrien Brody as the young Salvador Dalí, Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein or Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway. A film that is a pleasure to watch again and again.
The Artist (2011)
Plot: The Artist tells the life stories of George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), a celebrated silent film actor, and Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), a young woman who also wants to go to Hollywood. While Peppy finally succeeds in becoming the new star of the talkies at the end of the 1920s, the end of silent films also seems to mark the end of George Valentin's career. See for yourself whether and how he manages to return to his old successes and what role a small Jack Russell Terrier plays in the process.
Review: The special thing about The Artist is undoubtedly that it is a silent film in black and white, not exactly common for today. The musical accompaniment is very well chosen and hits the mood of the scene exactly. All in all, The Artist is a loving homage to old Hollywood that should not be missed.
The Cat's Meow (2001)
Plot: A pleasure cruise full of Hollywood celebrities ends in tragedy. The piquant thing: The yacht belongs to none other than newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and each of his guests seems to have a skeleton or two in the closet...
Review: I only recently stumbled across this film and was surprised at how entertaining and exciting the plot is, which is not as pulled out of thin air as one would think. Costumes and set design are also noteworthy here. All in all, a very entertaining spectacle!
The Great Gatsby (2013)
Plot: I presume that most people are familiar with the famous novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but in case not, here is a brief summary: When the moderately successful stockbroker Nick Carraway meets the mysterious and fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby, it is no coincidence. The magnate's desperate desire to win Carraway's cousin Daisy over sets in motion a chain of actions that end in disaster.
Review: Admittedly, Baz Luhrman's 2013 film adaptation is not everyone's cup of tea and may scare off purists. The editing and effects are fast-paced and flashy, and the soundtrack features a few tracks by modern performers. But it must be said in Luhrman's defence that the fast pace of the film suits the ecstatic and fast-moving zeitgeist of the Roaring Twenties in New York better than one might at first think and that the modern music tracks are largely adapted to the style of the 1920s. Costumes and set design are spectacular and the cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan among others) are also worthy of note. Final verdict: Controversial, but creative.
Bullets over Broadway (1994)
Plot: Theatre director David Shayne (John Cusack) has not yet been able to land a hit on Broadway. The only person willing to finance his latest play is a shady mobster (Joe Viterelli). But only on the condition that Shayne gives his completely talentless girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly) one of the leading roles. Disputes among the actors, criticism of his play and influence from the mafia are just some of the problems the director has to deal with during rehearsals. When one of the Mafiosi discovers his own creative talent, things get really tricky...
Review: In Bullets over Broadway, director Woody Allen once again shows his talent for bizarre characters and absurd entanglements. Both the vanity-dominated theatre scene and the rough gangster milieu are skilfully taken for a ride. When these two opposing worlds collide, misunderstandings and conflicts are inevitable and provide many funny moments. Dianne Wiest even received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the ageing actress-diva Helen Sinclair.
The 5 worst films in detail:
Bright Young Things (2003)
Plot: Writer Adam Fenwick-Symes is in permanent financial straits. His latest novel, which describes his life among rich, decadent, party-loving people, is confiscated because of its immorality, and his other attempts to get on the right track with his finances are also unsuccessful. His fiancée finally leaves him for another man, the circle of pleasure-seekers disperses and at some point World War II breaks out.
Review: I have long been fascinated by the story of the historical group Bright Young Things and when I found out that there was a film about it, directed and written by Stephan Fry, whom I hold in high esteem, I was convinced that I would like it. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The story is chaotic, there is no real suspense, plot lines run nowhere, the characters behave idiotically and are all rather unsympathetic. There is no one with whom you could identify, so the film just drifts into emptiness and leaves you with a feeling of "...and what was that all about?".
Love in Thoughts (2004)
Plot: The two school friends Paul and Günther are plagued by unhappy love and world-weariness. On a fateful weekend when events come to a head, they forge a murder/suicide pact, but it turns out differently than planned.
Since I don't want to repeat myself, I would like to refer you to my film review, which I have already written on this subject (click here).
The Great Gatsby (1974)
Plot: See: The Great Gatsby (2013)
Review: What may be too much pace for some in the 2013 version is definitely too little in the 1974 version. The film has some lengths, often seems static and the actors' performance wooden. Visually, the 70s are felt more than would be desirable. Robert Redford as Gatsby is not convincing, nor is there any chemistry worth mentioning between him and Mia Farrow (Daisy Buchanan), who also seems more like a caricature than a person with whose inner conflict one could sympathise.
Babylon (2022)
Plot: The viewer follows the lives of various characters who seek their fortune in Hollywood in the 20s and 30s and experience moments of success and failure. Of course, boisterous parties and the problems of the changeover from silent to talking pictures are not to be missed here.
Review: Where to start? Perhaps with the fact that various actresses (including Margot Robbie, who plays the lead role) look as if they've just come from the set of a Shakira video in 2010, which is totally out of keeping with the period depicted. On the film sets, everyone behaves like incompetent idiots who constantly suffer nervous breakdowns under the influence of drugs, which is extremely exhausting to watch. The parties, to which a lot of running time is devoted, are unsurpassable in terms of tastelessness, so that one seriously doubts the mental age of the director. Without exaggeration, Babylon is the worst and most pointless film I have seen in a long time.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
Plot: The celebrated jazz singer Getrude "Ma" Rainey is to record her most famous songs in a studio in Chicago together with her band. While the four musicians wait in the rehearsal room for the singer's arrival, conflicts within the band become more and more apparent, so that the recording threatens to topple.
Review: The decision to include Ma Rainey's Black Bottom in the list of the worst 20s films was not an easy one for me. The film has a top-class cast (Viola Davis as Ma Rainey and Chadwick Boseman as trumpet player Levee Green), addresses important issues such as conflicts in the music business, whether between band mates or between (white) managers and (black) artists. The problem with Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is that it is based on a Broadway play and doesn't seem to get away from it. The action takes place almost exclusively in the recording room of the studio, most of the time there is just talking, not much happens. Like in Beckett's famous play Waiting for Godot, at some point one wonders if the diva will show up at all, and so the film drags on a lot (although the actual running time is only 93 minutes).
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I hope my tips for your evening entertainment programme were helpful. In any case, I hope you enjoy yourselves!
Yours sincerely,
Marleen Tigersee
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