RECORD 17 A HOUSEHOLD DREAMER
31 JAN 2024
I think we all have been there during the lockdowns. Torn between fear, anxiety, and entrapment indoors. On a boring day like today, I’d question myself, ‘Do I actually choose to be working from home after the pandemic nightmare?’ I also blame this for my sudden urge to watch Arylle (2024) in the cinema last minute, and despite my efforts to find a screening, I can’t be asked to watch a movie at 10 pm, which seems to be reasonable to me. However, this urge to go to the movies is liberating. You are not trapped with endless premieres on Netflix, Disney+, etc, and get to have a taste of stuffy air and popcorn outside your house. In my case, a submarine that my online shopping habits renamed my life into.
As for my feelings of being stuck at the beginning of the year, Argylle is not a newbie either. I’m guessing the most famous ancestor of this movie is Romancing the Stone (1984), a romcom story with Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas, that follows Joan Wilder into some crazy adventures (let’s not indulge tautology with repeating things here with Joan’s surname). A brilliant bestselling writer who has a cat and an adventurous sister is forced to leave the comfort of her New York apartment to travel to Columbia. Argylle and Ally Conway take a different level of detective adventure, mixing genres and what Hollywood has been mastering the past few years with Bullet Train (2022), Red Notice (2021), and Knives Out (2019, 2022) (among others).
Although, there are also classics that are on the other side of the scale portraying a bored or trapped against-her-own-will woman that also dreams wildly. Let’s look at Le Streghe (1967), an Italian film anthology starring Silvana Mangano. Alongside another Italian anthology directed by legendary master of his craft Vittorio De Sica, Woman Times Seven (1967), which came out the same year. The concept is similar as we observe brilliant Shirley MacLaine in seven different stories with brilliant and grotesque production design (as if it is a comedy fantasy based on The Apartment (1960), in which she acted with Jack Lemmon). However, Woman Times Seven (1967) is only directed by De Sica, while The Witches (1967) gathered 5 big Italian directors, including Vittorio De Sica himself.
![Le Streghe (1967)]()
![Women Times Seven (1967)]()
![Romancing the Stone (1984)]()
![Argylle (2024)]()
The main similarity is, of course, between An Evening Like the Others (from The Witches) and Woman Times Seven, as both are directed by Vittorio De Sica. These female characters are bright and imaginative because they are partly ignored by their close ones and partly that gives them freedom to dream of whatever they want. Also, they are typically American. De Sica as his Italian contemporaries became remarkable for capturing Italy in rebuilding itself and hyper realistic stories about people (Ieri, Oggi, Domani (1963), Bicycle Thieves (1948), Ciociara (1960) ). In my view, this bit of American cinema whether it’s Clint Eastwood or Shirley MacLaine creates a magical illusion, a domesticated dream of a world that it could never be a reality. That Hollywood is famous for in all times.
It’s hard to ignore the romantic relationship issues aspect in these movies. In my view, it’s worth taking that as a relationship with oneself. A self-check, as it's called these days. Where are you at? Are you happy? What do you want to do? What do you regret not doing or doing? The trend on TikTok with awareness of classy and toxicity (toxique) brings awareness of negative traits and more courage to put energy into one’s personal growth. How Raye said it in Worth It: ‘Ooh, give all of the time I should be be working on me’. The safe space of cinema allows dreams to not make us regret our choices or to trap our future beings. Perhaps, a reminder that a lack of living your dream brings the space to check on or paint anew one’s bigger picture and pick the outfits you already have for it. I’d like to try out this theory.
31 JAN 2024
I think we all have been there during the lockdowns. Torn between fear, anxiety, and entrapment indoors. On a boring day like today, I’d question myself, ‘Do I actually choose to be working from home after the pandemic nightmare?’ I also blame this for my sudden urge to watch Arylle (2024) in the cinema last minute, and despite my efforts to find a screening, I can’t be asked to watch a movie at 10 pm, which seems to be reasonable to me. However, this urge to go to the movies is liberating. You are not trapped with endless premieres on Netflix, Disney+, etc, and get to have a taste of stuffy air and popcorn outside your house. In my case, a submarine that my online shopping habits renamed my life into.
As for my feelings of being stuck at the beginning of the year, Argylle is not a newbie either. I’m guessing the most famous ancestor of this movie is Romancing the Stone (1984), a romcom story with Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas, that follows Joan Wilder into some crazy adventures (let’s not indulge tautology with repeating things here with Joan’s surname). A brilliant bestselling writer who has a cat and an adventurous sister is forced to leave the comfort of her New York apartment to travel to Columbia. Argylle and Ally Conway take a different level of detective adventure, mixing genres and what Hollywood has been mastering the past few years with Bullet Train (2022), Red Notice (2021), and Knives Out (2019, 2022) (among others).
Although, there are also classics that are on the other side of the scale portraying a bored or trapped against-her-own-will woman that also dreams wildly. Let’s look at Le Streghe (1967), an Italian film anthology starring Silvana Mangano. Alongside another Italian anthology directed by legendary master of his craft Vittorio De Sica, Woman Times Seven (1967), which came out the same year. The concept is similar as we observe brilliant Shirley MacLaine in seven different stories with brilliant and grotesque production design (as if it is a comedy fantasy based on The Apartment (1960), in which she acted with Jack Lemmon). However, Woman Times Seven (1967) is only directed by De Sica, while The Witches (1967) gathered 5 big Italian directors, including Vittorio De Sica himself.
The main similarity is, of course, between An Evening Like the Others (from The Witches) and Woman Times Seven, as both are directed by Vittorio De Sica. These female characters are bright and imaginative because they are partly ignored by their close ones and partly that gives them freedom to dream of whatever they want. Also, they are typically American. De Sica as his Italian contemporaries became remarkable for capturing Italy in rebuilding itself and hyper realistic stories about people (Ieri, Oggi, Domani (1963), Bicycle Thieves (1948), Ciociara (1960) ). In my view, this bit of American cinema whether it’s Clint Eastwood or Shirley MacLaine creates a magical illusion, a domesticated dream of a world that it could never be a reality. That Hollywood is famous for in all times.
It’s hard to ignore the romantic relationship issues aspect in these movies. In my view, it’s worth taking that as a relationship with oneself. A self-check, as it's called these days. Where are you at? Are you happy? What do you want to do? What do you regret not doing or doing? The trend on TikTok with awareness of classy and toxicity (toxique) brings awareness of negative traits and more courage to put energy into one’s personal growth. How Raye said it in Worth It: ‘Ooh, give all of the time I should be be working on me’. The safe space of cinema allows dreams to not make us regret our choices or to trap our future beings. Perhaps, a reminder that a lack of living your dream brings the space to check on or paint anew one’s bigger picture and pick the outfits you already have for it. I’d like to try out this theory.
Yours,
5TO9 FC TEAM