Summer Film Favorite #1

I simply cannot get motivated to pack up things for school. I leave on Saturday morning and the only thing I have done so far is to throw a bunch of clothing in the laundry for Mom to wash and organize my movie collection into a nice little DVD tube.

So, I decided to sit down with my computer and finally type the first of three posts about the films that stayed with me the most this summer. These are the films that I watched during this year’s break that I just couldn’t shake. They wouldn’t go out of my head. Their themes just keep swirling around in my brain and sometimes kept me awake during the night. For your consideration:

Yeah, this isn’t really one of them. But I thought I’d throw in it just for kicks and giggles. I watched it with some friends last night and we had a high ol’ time laughing at the cliché, random mess that is The Disney Channel. This particular number gave me many, many laughs. Zac Efron is quite the dancer, but whoever choreographed this one must have just told him to jump around.

Here’s the real thing:

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

It’s astounding how this movie was so violently panned by critics. Tykwer’s visual sense is so spot-on and so intensely in touch with Suskind’s prose that I’m tempted to say that this is one of the best book adaptations that I can think of. True, the book does help to develop characters more (what book doesn’t?), but the characters of Tykwer’s film are most definitely not flat.

I purchased the novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer back in January at a used bookstore when I first heard about the movie. I read a few pages and, for some off reason, forgot about it until after I watched the film. Now, I go back and read parts of the novel and find beautiful examples of extremely delicate prose, filled with such raw emotional power that I can’t help from shaking I read some parts.

SPOILERS AWAIT: I can’t get Grenouille’s character out of my mind. Here is a man who has never known love, yet even when people love his perfume he can not receive their love because hatred is the only emotion he has ever been capable of feeling. Suskind captures this brilliantly in the book, and Tykwer’s visuals in the film are sumptuous and chill-inducing.

Some may complain about the amount of nudity in the film, but is in now way exploitative or sensual. Tykwer's handling of the execution scene is done so tastefully and is so beautiful that it inspires a sense of awe more than a sense of lust. It really is brilliant. Too bad I can't share it with everyone. They just don't understand...

I love this film.