Anna Karenina - 1977 - UK

Anna Karenina - 1977 - 7/10

 
Lavish (in its day) adaptation of Tolstoy’s doomed heroine.
Anna, in a loveless marriage to an older man, a count, meets the dashing Vronsky.
Sparks ignite, and they attempt to deny the physical attraction.  As if.
Lust, betrayal, romance, Fate, with a capital F.
Nicola Pagett and Stuart Wilson share electric chemistry.
At ten episodes, this breathes and goes deeply into the novel.
Gorgeous originally, this now appears a trifle faded.

Tipping The Velvet - 2002 - UK

Tipping The Velvet - 2002 - 6/10

 
Young Nan takes up with an older female, a male impersonator, and heads to London.
Friendship glides into more taboo territory as they work closer as a team.
Adventures move across prostitution, cross-dressing, coming-of-age.
Overtly lesbian, and a feast for fashionistas.
If you watch enough BBC shows, you will recognize the superb casting in this.

Shiny, Shiny Bright New Hole In My Heart - 2006 - UK

Shiny, Shiny Bright New Hole In My Heart - 2006 - 6/10

 
Nathalie is a professional shopping advisor.
Her taste is impeccable; her clients are beyond affluent.
Envy, perhaps the contagion of being amidst such luxury, begin a slow grip.
Husband Jeremy is a doctor, so the credit card has a high limit.
Until spending brings more joy than mere ownership.
“Shopping addiction” which to me is another manifestation of the big empty.
Never enough, no matter how much, never enough.  Their souls are empty.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3369652

Becoming Karl Lagerfeld - 2024 - France

Becoming Karl Lagerfeld - 2024 - 7/10

 
Mini-series on the iconic fashion designer, set mostly around the 1970’s.
During his tenure as artistic director of Chloé.
The industry aspect of this is compelling – if one is into this world (I married a fashionista, there is no escape).
His previous relationship with Yves Saint Laurent, conflicts between haute couture and prêt-à-porter.
Much of the series regards his relationship with Jacques de Bascher, French aristo and dilettante.
Bascher suffers low self esteem, substance abuse, limited talent, pettiness.
Nevertheless, for many, I imagine the relationship may be more riveting than fabric.
Essential for those who know and wear brands.

Le Paris des Mannequins - 1962 - France

Le Paris des Mannequins - 1962 - 6/10

 
The models depart the building, head for a rooftop photo shoot.
Stilted, frozen poses, akin to high-stepping shoe adverts in Vogue.
Then they hit the streets and alleys for impromptu work.
Reactions of onlookers vary from surprise to hey-look-at-me.
The sly humor caught me off guard and made this memorable.

 
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3364480

Mrs. ‘Arris Goes To Paris - 1992 - UK

Mrs. ‘Arris Goes To Paris - 1992 - 6/10

 
While getting mail for Mrs. Dent, charwoman Mrs. Harris sees her Dior gown.
By and large, the loveliest, most beautiful thing she has even seen.
Determined to have one, she scrimps and saves for three years to buy one at the Dior shop.
Except, when she reaches Paris three years later, she finds there isn’t exactly a shop.
She is allowed to attend one of the showings (???), and sits next to a well dressed diplomat.
Lansbury is delightful in fashion fantasy, along with costars Diana Rigg and Omar Sharif.
Solid work all around.  Gowns, models, period cars, street scenes, everyday attire.

Exte: Hair Extensions - 2007 - Japan

Exte: Hair Extensions - 2007 - 5/10
AKA - Ekusute // エクステ

 
A young female is washed up dead.  Save for her hair, which keeps growing.
And what luscious hair!  Glorious tresses that a collector / fetishist starts selling to salons.
Too bad the hair turns out to be cursed.
Clear signpost that the “dead wet girls” cycle was finished.
More campy than frightening, silly more than scary.
I felt cheated the first time I watched.  Second time, I decided to view as comedy / satire and this was better.
Better still, find other wet girls for your enjoyment.

Cristóbal Balenciaga - 2024 - Spain

Cristóbal Balenciaga - 2024 - 7/10

 
Strolling biopic series of the formidable fashion designer.
Active in Paris haute couture from the 1930’s into the 1970’s.
This explores his obstacles, relationships, methods.
His rivalries / friendships include Dior, Chanel, Givenchy.
Homosexuality is touched on several times, as well as Fascist Spain, and Nazi occupied Paris.
Alberto San Juan digs into the lead role, showcasing Balenciaga’s innovation and almost monomaniacal need for control.
Superbly done – BUT – this is one of those series where one ought to have a handle on fashion history.
(I married a fashionista, one who is steeped in the major houses and keeps up with current designers and models.
I even went to an exhibition of Balenciaga’s garments a few years ago.
Hate saying this, but the less you know, the more you may miss out.)

Quant - 2021 - UK

Quant - 2021 - 7/10

 
For fashionistas, a must-see biography of the Sixties designer icon.
Who actually set up her own boutique shop in 1955.
Best remembered for the miniskirts, bright colors, free moving garments.
Plus, she was not designing for the affluent elite, but for everyday girls.
Numerous talking heads from models to historians to a few gushing cheerleaders.
While she rarely receives credit today, her influence still pervades fashion.
The Mary Quant Shops remain strong in Japan.

Funny Face - 1957 - USA

Funny Face - 1957 - 7/10

 
The fashion magazine arrives in a trendy bookshop (Greenwich Village).
Models amidst “intellect” (books).  Recall Playmates wanting to be engineers or rocket scientists.
Afterward, the photographer stays behind to assist employee Jo repair the shambles.
Sparks generate, then a song, then off to fashion center of the world – Paris.
Gershwin numbers, dancing by a superlative Audrey Hepburn, amidst haute couture.
Splashy Hollywood romance is an enjoyable spectacle.
If – IF – you can overlook the Fred Astaire / Audrey Hepburn age discrepancy.

Puzzle Of A Downfall Child - 1970 - USA

Puzzle Of A Downfall Child - 1970 - 6/10

 
Her old photographer ferries to the island to visit a retired, reclusive fashion model.
She talks of her first love, the older man who took advantage of her when she was 15.
The initial assignments in New York, affairs with men, anxieties, loneliness.
Throughout, Lou is an unreliable narrator, jumbling chronology, glossing events, suppressing.
Her narration is a labyrinth of mis-remembrances and fantastical deceptions.
Faye Dunaway gives a tour de force performance in this overlooked and challenging film.

Miss S - 2020 - China

Miss S - 2020 - 7/10
AKA - Qi Pao Mei Tan  // 旗袍美探

After a few years in Europe, Su Wenli returns home.
Just in time to observe police ineptitude during a drug sweep.
She intrudes, assists, then discovers at least one inspector is intelligent.
Major retooling of the Miss Fisher franchise, set in 1930’s Shanghai.
Thirty, two-part episodes.  I watched ten episodes a year.

Straight off, this looks fabulous!  Costumes, cars, interiors.  Luxury overload.
Minor quibble is the streets (sets) are too clean and not crowded enough.
Fans of the original will relish how Wenli assembles her “team”.
Including her building relationship with Inspector Luo.

 
Yili Ma and Weiguang Gao have sparkling chemistry.  Two characters who genuinely seem to like each other.
Individual episodes range from good to very good, similar to Miss Fisher S01.
Miles above cookie cutter Hallmark drivel.
Best – really good here – the writers and producers never quite drop the murder of Su Wenli’s sister.
Whereas team Fisher quit, here Ding Ru Shan percolates through the series, rising to a deadly forefront by the end.
Fairly satisfying.  Next time your girl requests Hallmark, suggest this series.

Cover Girl Models - 1975 - Philippines

Cover Girl Models - 1975 - 5/10

 
Three girls and a photographer head off to exotic Hong Kong and regions thereabouts.
Once there, they are unwittingly involved with smugglers and espionage.
Not that they know, they are mostly hapless eye candy.
They bring their own wardrobes (please, designers would supply fashions they wanted showcased) that appear to have been grabbed out of a fabric shop.
On the sly, the photographer keeps pushing for nude spreads for girlie mags.
The girls refuse, they are fashion models after all, but there is nudity throughout.
Poodle fur, pointless drive-in goop.

The Case Of The Bloody Iris - 1972 - Italy

The Case Of The Bloody Iris - 1972 - 6/10
AKA - Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer?

 
The elevator is crowded, until it’s not.  And by that time, the gloves are on and the blade flashes.
She was blonde, heading towards an assignation when … well … victim #1.
Brisk moving Giallo is packed with nudity, occasional sex, and loads of suspects.
Confusing?  Sure, they all are.  Who cares!
A mouth watering Edwige Fenech headlines a parade of stunning females.
None have real jobs.  Dancing, nude modeling, wrestling, or interviews.
Highly entertaining plot gallops at a heady pace.
Fashionistas?  Edwige has a glamorous, seemingly bottomless wardrobe.

3 Beauties - 2014 - Venezuela

3 Beauties - 2014 - 5/10
AKA - 3 Bellezas

 
Forced, unfunny “comedy” from Venezuela.
Beauty contestant failure, now single mother, drums the path to runway on her small daughters.
The son is nothing.  “Forget him.  He’ll only grow into a hairy, smelly man.”
She also constantly reminds the girls,  “You are not sisters - you are rivals.”
Resentments and grudges build, from childhood to the national competition.
If you can reference JonBenét, you ought to cringe at this.
Females I viewed this with totally recognized the mother character.
Beware DVD subtitles.  Most ungrammatical, though entertaining.

Love & Friendship - 2016 - UK

Love & Friendship - 2016 - 6/10

 
Flawed, yet enjoyable adaptation of an obscure Jane Austen novella.
The movie is based on “Lady Susan”, written when Austen was 18, and not “Love and Freindship” (misspelling correct) which was penned four years earlier.
Lady Susan, an unscrupulous widow, sets out to find rich, easy to control husbands for herself and her daughter.
She flirts, conducts affairs, oppresses her daughter, imposes on her relations.
A right piece of work.
Costumes, set design, photography are all excellent.  Acting, top rate.
The pacing if off, however.  Too modern.  The story dashes breakneck throughout.
Numerous characters introduced, yet several are underutilized.  Stephen Fry = 2 brief scenes.
More air, a longer cut would help immeasurably.
Amusing entertainment, nevertheless, and Austen fans will find this irresistible.

The Age Of Innocence - 1993 - USA

The Age Of Innocence - 1993 - 7/10

 
Scorsese’s opulent adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel of manners in New York high society of the 1880’s.
Newland Archer’s future seems mapped out, enter the Law, maintain his position, wed May Welland  
Enter the Countess Olenska, abused wife, though shunned by the best society.
Archer feels sympathy for her, then a kinship, followed by something more perilous.
This society is one of rules and boundaries, enforced with extraordinary, if quiet, pressure.
Acting is flawless, from leads to secondary players, to the narrator.
Lush visuals, ravishing set design.  Oh, how the upper tier lived in the Gilded Age.

Lipstick - 1976 - USA

Lipstick - 1976 - 6/10

 
I remember watching this when it came out, disappointed that it was glossy exploitation.
Why rewatch decades later?  IQ of Cheez Whiz, I suppose.
Fashion model catches the eye of her young sister’s music teacher.
Relationship quickly plunges down, “I thought her no meant yes,” territory.
Meaning forced sex and subsequent drama.
Then, as now, it can be maddeningly difficult for females to receive a fair judgment.
Ending(s) remain a one-two hop of implausible contrivances for me.
Breakout role, hoped for by Margaux Hemingway, boosted younger sister Mariel instead.

How To Be Bohemian - 2015 - UK

How To Be Bohemian - 2015 - 6/10

 
How indeed?  Is there even such a thing anymore?
Three part series hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell.
First episode offers historical perspective of early 19th century Paris Decadents, popularized in famous book, “La Vie de Bohème.”  Followed by London types, Pre-Raphaelites and Aesthetes, think Wilde and Beardsley.
Second episode focuses on Bloomsbury Group and the “bright young things.”
The first episode were creative souls, striving against social norms, working for success on their own terms.
The second were mostly rich, privileged souls with affluent bank accounts.
Third episode begins at the 60's, sweeps to today.  Creative types followed by wannabees.
Bohemia commodified and sold to middle class and hipsters who hope “looking unique” is the same as “being unique."

 
Numerous talking heads throughout.  Some informed, some funny, others are aging, pretentious old farts.
Host Mitchell comes off as a bit bourgeois, though that is actually refreshing in light of affected posing elsewhere.
Poseurs, pretenders, limited sorts roundly loathed by all.

The Red Queen - 2015 - Russia

The Red Queen - 2015 - 6/10

AKA - Krasnaya Koroleva

 
Splashy, lavish drama of Soviet fashion models through the Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras.
Focus is on the striking Regina Kolesnikova, premier model of the Soviet house.
Haunted by her past, she drinks, abuses drugs, falls into bleak despair, bordering on madness.
Most of the other models around her are equally messed up.  Soap opera territory.
Heavy handed melodrama boasts wildly over the top acting.

Real life glamour queen Regina Zbarska, the quintessential Soviet runway model of the 50's and 60's, was internationally famous.  Whispers persist she was also a secret KGB operative.  If so, she had access to Western designers, politicians, ambassadors.  Everyone.  KGB officials have neither confirmed, nor denied those rumors.

 
Difficult to assess this production, which I enjoyed beginning to finish (I am a long Vogue subscriber).
As noted, the acting is broad to the point of histrionics.
Since I had seen many of the actors in other Russian movies, I wanted to blame inept directing.
On the other hand, this could well be camp homage to Douglas Sirk’s florid excesses.
Set designs are saturated Technicolor, evocative of overripe MGM musicals (there are musical numbers in Red Queen, as well).  After so many grayish looking US and Euro shows, this dazzles by comparison.
The studio press release also promised an exaggerated telling of Regina Zbarska which this certainly is.