Just a quick one.
There are certain films the wife and I find ourselves re-watching every year. Because of whatever reasons or particular associations, films like 1942’s “Random Harvest,” Noel Coward’s “Brief Encounter” from 1945, 1993’s “Six Degrees of Separation” and John McTiernan’s 1999 remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair” all seem to seasonally re-insert themselves into our viewing schedule. A couple of them, like notably the last two I cited, we watch because of their autumnal New Yorky vibes. By the same token, Peggy also insists that we watch my most-loathed “Love Actually” every December, which I’m never quite so enthusiastic about. I try to introduce some more challenging fare into the mix -– I’ve succeeded, for example, in getting “The Taking of Pelham 123” (the original) and “Marathon Man” into that rotation, but am having a harder time convincing the rest of the household that “After Hours” and “The Warriors” demand repeated, at-least-bi-annual viewings.
There is one other film, however, that Peg and I keep coming back to every year around this time, that being Whit Stillman’s much-feted indie debut, “Metropolitan” from 1990. While a revelation to some and anathema to others, Stillman’s signature opus immediately resonated with me upon my first viewing back in the day given my Upper East Side roots. While I was never anything of a proponent of the formal debutante ball scene, having grown up in those environs, I completely recognized Stillman’s nuanced depiction of the style and cadence of that culture. It’s a simple, talky film that doesn’t really connect with everyone (some find it a bit too precious), but as a precise portrait of a very certain time and place, it’s nigh on perfection.
In any case, my lovely friends over at Desperately Seeking the `80s just unleashed their latest episode wherein they take another field trip and corner one Dylan Hundley (who played rat-pack-ringleader Sally Fowler in “Metropolitan”) in the comfy confines of J.G. Mellon’s on East 74th & Third and get her to spill the chili on her early doings in New York City, her adventures before and after her turn in Whit Stillman’s movie, some star-crossed extracurricular activities (Tom Verlaine!?!) and her second career as a cool, downtown chanteuse.
Check it out here. Tell’em Flaming Pablum sent ya.
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