so I actually got out near my regular dismissal time. I have no homework due tomorrow and the lack of anything to occupy myself with here grants me the opportunity to blog! Shout Glory! =D
OH! HEHllo! I AM tHe tErrRble triCCCCycle Trio! I lIke Two Eat all da cAKes and tHe cHeEpz arE alSO GOOod for der medErschnitZEL!........................................................................................................................................
GAHAGAHGAHAGAHAGAHAGHAGAHAGAHGAHAGAHAGAHAHAGAHAHAAAAAAAAAAGA
HAGahgahaGaHayagahgHAGAHAGAHGAHAGAfacismGAFAGAFAGFAGAFAGAFAGFAGAFAG
AFAGFAFredkelpsistheworstpeabnutbubbernunevar!lolzijkdlastfridayattheblockandicantstopda
laughsfrommakingdaoralknockingsGAHAGAHAGAHAGAHAGAHAGAHagaaaaghhhghgh.
(GASHGAHAGHAGHAHAGAHAGHAGAHAG)......
-this is a joke.
get it. If not.................................
AAALLLLL HHHHOOOPPPEEE IIISSS (-lost-).
P.S. this is not reggie.
Oh dear! It seems like my defective brother managed to infiltrate my blog!
Oh YesH! DASs Are me!*Brother has been sacked.
Kay, anyhow, my siblings suggested we watch Harold and Maude last Friday. Good suggestion. Let's find out why!
*WARNING! This film has been flagged as PPP (Perverted Pedophile Propaganda!) jk. XD
Harold Chasen (played by Bud Cort) is a pale young man entering adulthood. He lives on a large estate with his wealthy mother and a troupe of servants. Despite his upper crust life, Harold feels the need to fake his own death by hanging himself. His mother witnesses the entire act without batting an eyelid. Apparently, she is accustomed to Harold's suicidal proclivities, a fact given credence by following scenes in which Harold carries out numerous methods of doing himself in while his mother carries about like it's everyday business. Harold is, as we learn when he tells his psychiatrist "I go to funerals" when asked what his favorite hobby is, obsessed with death. However, he discovers that an old woman named Maude (Ruth Gordon) also shares this curious habit. Harold is initially reluctant to open up to this eccentric woman, but after she hijacks both the local minister's Volkswagen Bug and Harold's hearse, he establishes a bond with her. As his mother searches for a girl worthy enough to become Harold's betrothed (none of whom Harold finds interesting in the slightest, driving him to resort to drastic measures to drive them away), he learns how to live under the free-spirited guidance of Maude, "rescuing" trees planted on the sidewalk and returning them to the forest, and learning how to play banjo and sing. Eventually, Harold falls in love with Maude, despite her old age. Although Maude reciprocates Harold's feelings, others, i.e. his mother, his uncle General Victor Ball, and etc., are not too keen on their romance...
Is love really timeless? Harold and Maude think so! In case you couldn't tell from the description above, the movie is a black comedy. In case you're confused, "black comedy" refers to a morbid or dark sense of humor, not a style of humor that focuses on black people and culture. It is a very funny film, with Harold's faked suicides and Maude's unusual and even unorthodox actions testifying to this. *SPOILER ALERT! YOU HAVE BEEN FOREWARNED!!* All of the scenes in which Harold fakes suicide, whether it be by self-immolation, self-mutilation, and seppuku, to frighten prospective suitors made both my siblings and I laugh. *END OF SPOILER* Harold's mother is also a rather comedic character, thanks to her snobby attitude and passive acknowledgment of Harold's strange behavior.
The music selected for the film by Cat Stevens suited it well. I'm not a big Cat Stevens fan, but I really enjoyed "If You Wanna Sing Out, Sing Out", which acts as a primer to Maude's philosophy. This song, as well as many of the others, had a folksy, 1970's feel to them. At first, I wasn't too impressed, but now the songs are starting to grow on me. Although there were not as many as the Stevens' tracks, classical pieces were used effectively in some scenes, such as "The Blue Danube" in a scene where Harold and Maude waltz with each other.
Additionally, I thought the acting was excellent. Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon were very convincing as Harold and Maude. Cort's appearance and voice reminded me of Peter Lorre, but not in a way that detracted from the quality of the film. His performance was very deadpan, adding to the believability of his character, and making it convincing when his emotions finally burst out later in the film. Gordon, on the other hand, did a commendable job portraying Maude as part-burnt-out-revolutionary, part-little-old-lady-from-Pasadena. She made Maude wild without making her cartoony, a feat that not many actresses' pull of these days (although I guess this can be blamed on screenwriters for exaggerating the wackiness of the elderly in movies as much as the actors' or actresses themselves for hamming the roles up). The supporting actors' also deserve recognition; among them, G. Wood as Harold's psychiatrist, Eric Christmas as the priest, and Charles Tyner as General Victor Ball. Wood was my favorite of the aforementioned three, with his authoritative voice and attention-commanding demeanor.
During the movie, I kept thinking two things: 1) How much it reminded me of Being There (another film I plan to review when I get the chance to see it again) and 2) How similar it was to Wes Anderson films. As it turns out, the movie was directed by Hal Ashby, who also directed Being There. In regards to the similarities between Harold and Maude and Wes Anderson's films, I discovered that I'm not the only one. My sister and brother both agreed with me when I commented upon it while watching the movie, but I checked on IMDB and found some of the posters' on there think so as well! Here's the link.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067185/board/thread/142785324?d=142785324&p=1#142785324
Bizarre that we all thought so, and I don't even like Anderson's films too much. At least from what I've seen, but that's a topic for another day.
In summation, I would give Harold and Maude 10 stars out of 10. I honestly could not find any flaw in the film, at least upon this viewing. In fact, I feel this review fails to do the film justice! XD
I also would like to say that I think it warrants critical discussion more than written analysis, which is fortunate for me. Why, you may ask; I intend for these reviews to act more as a way of introducing movies to new audiences than to discuss the deeper meanings of themes in them, of which Harold and Maude contains several. To that end, dear reader, I hope my review left you yearning to watch the film.
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