Film Fest

Anna and I spent the three-day MLK holiday at our cabin near Mount Rainier. I took along some movies to watch during the evening. Night of the Living Dead was just because I had never seen it but heard about it for a long time. Old Boy was a scorcher. This is a Korean film recently released in the U.S. It's a pretty dark film. A man is imprisoned for fifteen years. He doesn't know by whom or where. When he finally digs his way out he is determined to find out who did this to him. Much of the film involves this quest. He meets a younger woman who helps him. They fall in love. The latter third of the film turns quite ugly. Some rumor he spread years ago about a high school student and his sister were the cause of his imprisonment. He confronts the man who imprisoned him. He is then told that both he and the young girl with whom he has fallen in love have been hypnotized. When certain sounds were heard they would react in certain ways. Then our protagonist is told that the young girl is his daughter. Incest is answered with incest. A very dark and savage film with a very tragic ending. I'm glad that I saw it ... I think. For three-quarters of the film I was entertained. Then I sat, stunned as the story played itself out.

Time to lighten up a bit. Fortunately I had brought a wildlife film from Yellowstone and the classic Singing in the Rain with Gene Kelley, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds. They sure could dance. I wonder why Donald O'Connor got stuck in movies about Francis, the Talking Mule. Why didn't they let him dance in other films? He could hoof it right along with Kelley. Anyway, that brightened things up a bit. I wonder if that was Jean Hagen's real voice. Surely, it couldn't have been. A bright and cheery film after the other.