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The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les parapluies de Cherbourg)
Year of Release: 1964
Directed By: Jacques Demy
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Marc Michel, Ellen Farner
Genre: Romance, Drama, Musical

Overview:
An angelically beautiful Catherine Deneuve was launched to stardom by this dazzling musical heart-tugger from Jacques Demy. She plays an umbrella-shop owner's delicate daughter, glowing with first love for a handsome garage mechanic, played by Nino Castelnuovo. When the boy is shipped off to fight in Algeria, the two lovers must grow up quickly. Exquisitely designed in a kaleidoscope of colors, and told entirely through the lilting songs of the great composer Michel Legrand, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of the most revered and unorthodox movie musicals of all time.

My Thoughts:
What is love?  Is it the first blush of romance, the passion of youth and energy of youth, when life is ahead of you and everything is enormous?  I'm sure you remember those days, when everything that went wrong was the end of the world, and your life was over.

Or is love something you build with people who stand by you?  Is it something you have to work for, something that only comes when the flush of youth has passed and one becomes an adult?  

My vote is for the latter, but you can work it out for yourself.

Bechdel Test: Pass
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 4.5/5

(From July Movie Marathon: Musicals (Yes... You read right!) on July 12th, 2016)

Jab Tak Hai Jaan, a review by Tom

Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012/India) IMDb | Wikipedia Rapid Eye Movies, Alive (Germany) Director: Yash Chopra Writing: Devika Bhagat (Screenwriter), Aditya Chopra (Screenwriter) Length: 175 min. Video: Widescreen 2.35 Audio: German: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Hindi: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Subtitles: German

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Stars:
Shah Rukh Khan as Samar Anand
Katrina Kaif as Meera Thapar
Anupam Kher as Meera's father
Anushka Sharma as Akira Rai
Rishi Kapoor as Imran

Plot:
After finding and losing his true love in London, Samar Anand defies death by becoming a bomb disposal expert for the Indian Army. Returning to London after 10 years, he suffers amnesia after an accident. Will he be reunited with his love?

Awards:
Won:

Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Lyricist (Gulzar)
Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Supporting Actress (Anushka Sharma)

Nominated:

Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Actor (Shah Rukh Khan)
Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Lyricist (Gulzar)
Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Playback Singer - Female (Neeti Mohan)
Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Playback Singer - Female (Shreya Goshal)
Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Playback Singer - Male (Rabbi Shergill)

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes

This movie has a lot of milestones. It is Yash Chopra's first film after an eigth year pause (his last film was the great Veer-Zaara, also with Shah Rukh Khan). It marks his 50th anniversary of his Bollywood career. And sadly it was also his very last film, because he died shortly after filming it. Another milestone in this movie: Shah Rukh Khan's first on-screen kiss. Kissing in Bollywood movies has been a taboo which only has been broken more and more in recent years. Even though, Shah Rukh Kan was still holding out. I had read an interview of him, where he said he would never do it. So imagine my surprise, that he did in this movie.
I bought this movie on the day of the release, even though the price was quite high, because I really wanted to see another Shah Rukh Khan movie, which was more like his older movie and not like the ones in recent years. It promised to be more like Veer-Zara, and it almost kept this promise. It is not quite as great, but still a lot of fun and at times touching. Both love interests did a great job. I really happy to see Anushka Sharma and SRK together in another movie since Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is one of my favorite movies. Katrina Kaif also did a good job. Though it would have been fun to see SRK reunite with Preity Zinta for this movie (who starred with SRK in Veer-Zara and Kal Ho Naa Ho).

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on March 8th, 2013)

Tom's TV Finales marathon, a review by Tom

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Bottle Fairy: Volume 2: Autumn and Winter (2003/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia (United States) Length: 89 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Plot:
As they continue their studies into human society, our four fairies learn about the meaning behind holidays like New Year's and Valentine's Day. They're also schooled on the all-important subject of sports. With this much knowledge and perseverance they should definitely be able to become human! But with a strange education like this - reading, writing and 'rithmatic doesn't seem to be part of their curriculum - what sort of humans will they turn out to be?


Bottle Fairy
Season 1.13 And Then
Writer: Yuiko Tokumi (Original Material By), Hideki Shirane (Screenwriter)
Director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki
Cast: Nana Mizuki (Kururu), Kaori Nazuka (Chiriri), Yui Horie (Sarara), Ai Nonaka (Hororo), Kisho Taniyama (Sensei San), Haruko Momoi (Tama Chan), Yugo Takahashi (Announcement on the Train), Keiji Okuda (Old Man on the Train), Megumi Nasu (Student), Asami Imai (Fossil Excavation Club Leader), Makiko Ohmoto (Baseball Club Manager), Chie Nakamura (Scout), Ken Takeuchi (Fan A), Yukimasa Obi (Fan B), , Mia Bradly (Chiriri), Jennifer Sekiguchi (Hororo), Mari Daniel (Kururu), Vicky Green (Sarara), Yuri Lowenthal (Sensei-san), Riva West (Tama-chan), Amie Hill (Student), Amie Hill (Baseball Club Manager), Amie Hill (Talent Scout), Sabrina Weisz (Fossil Excavation Club Leader)

The first twelve episodes was teaching the four bottle fairies about Japanese customs. One for each month. This last episode has the bottle fairies being transformed into a human girl with the character traits of all four. A nice episode, but they could have done more with the idea.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Finales marathon on February 17th, 2013)