ROMANTIC DRAMA. “Who You Think I Am.” / “Intimacy.”

“Who You Think I Am” (2019, Tubi) French drama. A 50-year-old divorced teacher creates a fake Facebook profile of a 24-year-old woman. She finds a photo of a pretty young brunette online and uses it. She has created an entirely fictional character, but why? Stars Juliette Binoche. The movie is based on the 2016 novel by Camille Laurens.


       "Who You Think I Am” gives us more to bite and chew around a premise that is common to many, and so we ended up choking. Thought-provoking as it is in its entirety, but director Safy Nebbou's efforts tossed us just the “thought” but disregarded the “provocation” as he handed the viewers all the possible answers already. I mean, the telling of the story got entangled with its intent to “please” all “what could have beens.” 

       Yet the deftly involved performance of Juliette Binoche made the central character Claire Millaud's “journey” an entertaining ride. 🎥💻📽


“Intimacy” (2001, Roku) erotic drama. The two strangers meet in a dingy London flat every Wednesday for intense, completely anonymous sex, deliberately enforcing a strict rule of no names and no personal conversation. 



       Directed by Patrice Chéreau from a screenplay that he co-wrote with Anne-Louise Trividic, “Intimacy” is based on stories by Hanif Kureishi (who also wrote a novel of the same title). 

       Despite the overall depth and honesty of this movie, the allure is centered on its sexual daring or unflinching honesty of Claire and Jay, portrayed by Kerry Fox and Mark Rylance. As Rotten Tomatoes puts it: “Physical and psychological nakedness.”

       Ms Fox deservedly won the Best Actress at 2021's Berlin Film Festival and “Intimacy,” the Best Film. I saw this years ago and saw it again to “defocus” me from the graphic sex sequences and look at the entirety of the work, instead. 


🎥💻📽


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BASED on True Story or People: “The Lost Bus.” / “The Stanford Prison Experiment.” / “Escobar: Paradise Lost.” / “Polytechnique.” / “Miss Potter.” / “Last Days.”

Image
“The Lost Bus” (2025, Apple TV+) survival drama film directed by Paul Greengrass , who co-wrote the screenplay with Brad Ingelsby .         This movie is based on a rescue detailed in a section of Lizzie Johnson's book “Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire” about the 2018 Camp Fire , one of the most destructive wildfires in California history, which claimed 85 lives.        Mr Greengrass’ recreation of the disaster is terrifyingly authentic. It'd seem like the film's audience is actually there with the schoolchildren and their teachers and driver, inside the bus. You can almost feel the blazing fire and the searing heat.        Plus an outstanding performance by Matthew McConaughey as the driver Kevin McKee and America Ferrera as the teacher Mary Ludwig.        Recommended weekend family viewing. 🎥💻📽 “The Stanford ...
Read more

NOSFERATU (or Dracula) movies or films inspired by Bram Stoker's 1897 novel “Dracula.”

Image
<>“Nosferatu” (2024, Amazon Prime), written and directed by Robert Eggers . Production design is haunting, photography is disturbingly sinister, sound editing kneads your spine. And, of course, Nicholas Hoult (as Thomas Hutter) expectedly delivers and Lily-Rose Depp (as Ellen Hutter) is a revelation.         Meanwhile, with the prosthetics or masks, it is hard to rate the performance of Bill Skarsgård 's titular Count Orlok but Simon McBurney (as Herr Knock otherwise known as Renfield) is chillingly hilarious although a bit exaggerated, I think. But Aaron Taylor-Johnson (as Arthur Holmwood) is miscast.        Take note that Nosferatu/Count Dracula, Jonathan Harker and Lucy Harker, Abraham Van Helsing, Lucy Westenra, Renfield, John Seward, Arthur Holmwood etcetera assumed different names in this version. 🎥👍📽 <>“Nosferatu The Vampyre” (1979, Tubi), directed and written by Werner Herzog . A remake of...
Read more

“The Alto Knights.” / “The Irish Mob.”

Image
“The Alto Knights” (2025, Max) biographical crime drama. Story: In a failed assassination attempt orchestrated by his ambitious underboss, Vito Genovese , Luciano family boss Frank Costello finds himself at a crossroads. Robert De Niro both portrays Mr Genevese and Mr Costello , which can be confusing a bit because both speak like De Niro and both talk like Mafia bosses. As is though, this is not a bad movie although nothing is really new here. But a tired retelling of what we already knew or watched in so many mob cinema tropes.         Plot: In a failed assassination attempt orchestrated by his ambitious underboss, Vito Genovese , Luciano family boss Frank Costello finds himself at a crossroads. Weary of the constant bloodshed and betrayals that define his life, Costello informs Genovese of his intention to retire and cede control of the Luciano family. However, Vito, a man consumed by ambition and paranoia, refuses to believe Costello's in...
Read more