Monday, November 9, 2015

Funny Face...?

So, I just watched Funny Face.


And... I really thought I would simply adore it, like I do Roman Holiday.
 My friends, I did NOT.

While I can't say I completely despised the movie, I must say that I didn't really understand it (Hence the title of this post).
Let me start at the beginning.
Dick Avery (Fred Astair) is a big photographer for one of America's leading fashion magazines: Quality.
The magazine has been sagging a bit lately, so the president has decided to go all out with the new styles to influence the women of America.
During a photography session, they are using a dismal old bookstore to contrast the bright colors of the models, much upsetting the clerk, Jo Stockton, who is played by Audrey Hepburn.
Needing still a fresher look on the content of their magazine, Dick wants to make Jo the clerk a new fashion model, to represent the styles of Quality Magazine.
In other words, they take a plain old ragamuffin and turn her into a beauty model. We've heard it before. Jo finally agrees when she finds out that becoming a model for the magazine would mean a trip to Paris, where her idolized philosopher lives.


And so, they go to Paris, and there's some singing, and some dancing, and some kissing, a few 'Bonjour!'s here and there, and all that stuff.
It ends, of course, with the same 'happily ever after' that we all expect from most old movies.

I LIKED: The Costumes
Audrey plays a model, so that means dresses, and firs, and hats, and shoes, and make-up jobs, and hair styles, and I could go on and on.
We had some lovely outfits here, let me tell you! Edith Head did the costumes, so you KNOW they're good.


 I love this dress because it's so SUNSHINY, you know?


 This dress. THE SWISHY-NESS.




I really like the veil that goes with this dress.

I DISLIKED: The Music. And the singing.
I'm not completely against musicals. I promise, I'm not.  I like 'Singin' in the Rain', 'Beauty and the Beast', 'The Sound of Music', and a few selected others. 
But, I think that some musicals would be vastly improved if they just weren't musicals. 
This movie.
This was one of those. 
Though I love Fred Astair, and you can't rightly have a Fred Astair movie with no dancing,  sometimes, to be honest, there's just too much. 
Every time I watch a musical, I can't help thinking of all the story development that could be happening during the time it takes to sing all those songs! I felt that way while watching Funny Face during more than one scene. We had scene after scene of dancing, with characters talking like normal human beings only whenever there was an opening in between dance numbers.

 
I LOVED this dress though. :)


Which brings me to the next problem. A lot of musicals, I feel, don't have the best (or a lot of) plot. Why? Because they sing for half the movie! It's like they don't have time to tell a good story because they're too busy dancing. 
That's the trouble I had with Easter Parade (which is also and Astair movie... don't get me wrong, I LOVE Fred. It's not HIM I have trouble with at all). Singing, and dancing... and then more singing and dancing...  eeesh.
I want plot and characters, people.
Occasional dance numbers? Ok. 
But stop singing so much, golly! I mean, sttttaaaahhhppp.

And THIS PART. In the Paris cafe with those weird guys and all the smoke and the lights, and then Audrey started dancing...in a very strange way... it was SO WEIRD. 
We skipped most of it. :P

 
I LIKED: Audrey and Fred. :)
I don't think I'll ever dislike these two... no matter what movies they are in. They both posses so much talent. Fred with his dancing and singing, Audrey with her charming acting abilities. Really, they are two of my favorites. :)  
 
I love this pic. :)

 
Those LASHES. My gosh!


I DISLIKED: The Plot. Or, most of it. And not just the lack of it.
In spite of having very little plot at all, like I mentioned above, unfortunately what plot there WAS, wasn't very intriguing.
 I'm sorry, but when I watch a good romance, it should be really... really romantic, you know? It's the story that makes you love the characters, and then you love it when they fall in love, and you cry when something comes between them (or when one of them dies). 
You want to see them happy together.
I mean, when I watch a movie that says it's a 'comedy romance', you better give me comedy and romance that will make me melt into a puddle of blissful happiness, or you have failed your objective! 
 
Pretty sure this line has been used a hundred million times in all kinds of stories.

THIS PICTURE. THAT BLUE. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.


Ok, one last thing. I LIKED: All the lovely photography scenes.
The sessions when Fred is taking pictures of her, and we're going from one beautiful scene to the next, while she's posing in gorgeous costumes, and there's NO SINGING OR DANCING. I just loved those parts. They were just so colorful and blissful and gosh I loved them. I was sad when they were through. :(     



SO. You see my thoughts.
 Overall: Very colorful movie. Great talent and a few enjoyable moments, but I don't think I'll watch it again. :P
-Phoebe  
To finish, I'm giving you a dancing gif of Fred. Because I can.

Not sure what movie this is from . : /

 Have you seen 'Funny Face'? What do you think of it? Do you think that it's wanting something?

11 comments:

  1. How funny! I just saw this several weeks ago!

    I agree that it isn't really good, but I did like it a leeetle more than you. :-) I thought some of the songs were really nice. Especially the song in the 'red room scene.' :-) I liked that.

    The things I didn't like were:
    1. Fred was wayyy to old for Jo. (Or whatever Fred's name is. Hahahaa.)
    2. The dancing scene in the smoky café. I AGREE. THAT WAS BORING AND WEIRD. It actually kind of creeped me out.

    BUT YES THE DRESSES ARE AMAZING. I CAN'T EVEN. :-)

    Agreed though; not the best movie. :-/

    ~ Naomi

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  2. Hahaha! I agree with you on just about every point!

    As a photographer, I thought it was great fun to watch the actual photographing part. How Dick talked Jo into actually going when they are in the dark room...when they are in Paris doing the shoots and he is setting the scene for her. That kind of stuff I loved!

    However, the rest was pretty strange. As in, really strange! To much singing and to much random dancing. There is dancing and then there is jerking your body... ;) I love to watch dance scenes...just not THOSE dance scenes.

    FYI- that one gif is from "Shall We Dance" with Ginger Rogers.

    ~Cordy

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  3. Ah, so many opinions! :D
    Naomi:
    Yes, some of the songs WERE nice, but I just got caught up in the fact that there was too much music to enjoy it very much. : /
    That's the same problem my family had, that Fred was too old for her. Personally, I don't have a problem with that, but I know what you mean. I mean, the guy can't help being old, at least he can still dance! :D

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  4. Cordy:
    Yes, I reeeealllyy enjoyed the photography stuff. :) It was just fun to watch, the way Fred told her how to act, and if she should look sad, or happy, or whatever. It was all lovely.
    YES. I agree with you about the dancing. There is a fine line between actually DANCING, and just moving around in a really strange way...
    I should watch 'Shall We Dance' now!! :D Because I don't DESPISE musicals, you know.
    -Phoebe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't despise musicals either, they are just an acquired taste for me. :)
      I wanted to let you know that I tagged you over at my blog!
      http://writeoncordy.blogspot.com/2015/11/christmas-music-tag-part-1-ice-skating.html
      I know you have said that you don't always write back because you like to limit your communications in the blogging world so I won't be offended if you don't participate. I just wanted to let you know because I know you said awhile back that you had wanted to be tagged and so tagged yourself. I just wanted to give you an 'official' tag. :)
      Have a great day!
      ~Cordy

      Delete
  5. I liked the part were Fred danced outside her window! (or am I thinking of another movie?!). It was so sweet!

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  6. Ok, Cordy, it's totally fine, I did get your comment in my email, I think if you don't mind I will just skip this one and do the next two tags because those are the ones that relate to me more. :) I've only been Ice Skating once in my life, anyways. :) Thanks so much for thinking of me! And you can look forward to the other tags!
    -Phoebe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds great! I will look forward to them! :D

      Delete
  7. Ahem. NaNo is going ok, but I wish I had time to get more done. I mean, I'm getting SOME writing done, but not as much as I would like to. I've been trying to get some Christmas presents made for my friends, and that's taking a lot of time too. :P Thanks for asking!
    -Phoebe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know about the Christmas present struggle. :/ I'm having a hard time juggling my time as well! Good luck with everything!
      ~Cordy

      Delete
  8. I really don't like this movie, love both the actors, and usually, I like musicals, but this was awful. And the sad thing was, I personally was disappointed in the costumes, even though I usually love Edith Head. My family turned it of after a while since it was so weird and boring.

    ReplyDelete

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