Premise: A lonely man in his mid-30s overthinks a potential new relationship until he almost ruins it.
I'm feeling a little attacked by 1956 right now. This a pretty small movie about a 34-year-old who isn't that handsome but mostly just has confidence issues. Thankfully, I'm only 33, so I can't relate to this at all.
This is a shockingly small movie to win Best Picture for a decade I think of for its epics. The 50s had winners like Ben-Hur, From Here to Eternity, Around the World in 80 Days, and The Bridge on the River Kwai. In 1956 though, the winner is this little 90-minute play adaptation that looks more like Before Sunrise. I really liked this movie for that simplicity. I don't know Ernest Borgnine from much. I mostly think if him as a comedy guy, or at least always smiling. This is a great dramatic turn for him though. I have no qualms with his Best Actor win. I also appreciate that the ending is fairly open-ended. The whole movie happens over about 2 days, so expecting a happily ever after ending would be silly. Just having Marty realize he's been listening to bad advice from everyone he knows is good enough for me.
Obviously, aspects of this don't age perfectly. It's odd to hear a man call a woman he likes "a dog" this many times. Also, his first attempt at a kiss and how poorly he handles the rejection plays a lot differently now. It works as a reflection of that era though.
Side Note: Betsy Blair looks perfectly lovely in this. I will say though that she's regular person attractive. I appreciate that the movie didn't, like, give Marilyn Monroe dark hair and call her a spinster in this.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment