Breakfast at Tiffany's review

 Number 490 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1961 romantic-comedy 'Breakfast at Tiffany's.'

Based on Truman Capote's novella of the same name, Breakfast at Tiffany's follows the free-spirited Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn.) She is a vibrant and independent socialise who falls in love with her neighbour - the struggling writer Paul Varjack (George Peppard.)

Firstly, let's address the Mickey Rooney shaped elephant in the room. He plays Holly's landlord Mr Yunioshi. For this role, Rooney wore prosthetics to look Japanese. This received both historical and contemporary criticism for being a racist characterisation of the Japanese, and East-Asians in general. As someone with East Asian heritage, I didn't find this offensive so much as I found it annoying. 

In fact, if there was an Oscar for most irritating performance ever Mickey Rooney would have surely won. Mr Yunioshi was a one-dimensional, terrible character. Rooney seemed to spend all his time shouting at the top of his voice in an accent that quickly grated on me. I think he was supposed to be some type of comic relief, but there was nothing funny about his performance.

If anything, I was more grossed-out at the revelation that Holly was only fourteen when she married her first husband Doc Golightly (Buddy Ebsen.) She is only nineteen in the film. And this is something that the film completely glosses over. But then again this was the sixties, long before political correctness ever became a thing. 

That notwithstanding, I did enjoy Breakfast at Tiffany's. It was a wonderfully subtle film with plenty of laughs and a charming performance from Hepburn. She imbued the ditzy Golightly with enough charisma to make her a thoroughly likeable character. 

Director Blake Edwards also allowed for plenty of improvisation which helped the comedy to thrive. For the famous party scene, he let the champagne and food flow freely meaning, gave the cast little direction, permitting them to produce some authentic and hilarious moments.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is also well-known for its signature song 'Moon River.' Written specifically for Audrey Hepburn's limited range, it was the perfect accompaniment for the film. Suitably romantic and understated, it went onto rightly win the Oscar for the Best Original song. When a studio executive suggested it be cut in the film, Audrey Hepburn shot back with "over my dead body." If it wasn't for her strong convictions, we would have been robbed this gentle song.

The Mickey Rooney yellowface controversy aside, I did very much enjoy Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Mystic River review

 Number 347 on the top 1000 films of all time is Clint Eastwood's crime-drama 'Mystic River.'

Mystic River is based on the book of the same name by Denis Lehane. It opens on three twelve-year-old boys Jimmy, Sean and Dave as they are running amuck in 1970's Boston. The cops come and take away Dave. He isn't seen again until four days later alleging he was held prisoner and sexually assaulted. Fast-forward twenty-five years and the three friends have separated. Dave (Tim Robbins) is still living with his childhood trauma, Jimmy (Sean Penn) has become a petty crook and Sean (Kevin Bacon) is a copper. When Jimmy's nineteen-year-old daughter is murdered, and Dave becomes the number-one suspect, the three friends are thrown back together.

I've always said that Clint Eastwood is a better director than an actor. Nowhere is that more evident than here. Mystic River is a taut, tight thriller that grabs viewers by the throat in the first fifteen minutes, and refuses to let go. Mystic River rightly earned Eastwood a Best Director Oscar nod.

But Penn and Robbins won the best-actor and best-supporting actor Oscars. These were well-earned. Penn gave a powerful performance as the emotionally exhausted father desperately trying to solve the murder of his daughter. But Robbins was equally good if not better as Dave. Try as he might, he couldn't put the trauma of being assaulted as a boy behind him. Becoming the number-one suspect does nothing to help his deteriorating psyche. And Robbins brought all this to the role and more.

Even Kevin Bacon surprised me. Granted, I haven't seen him in that much, but I've never rated him as an actor. Yet he brought an excellent maturity to the role. Out of the three friends, he's managed to put the childhood trauma behind him. However, also out of the three friends, he receives the least development and screentime. It is said that he has pushed away his wife in his efforts to overcome his trauma, but this plot idea wasn't as fully-explored as it could have been. When the two eventually reconciled, I couldn't have cared less.

I also thought Jimmy's relationship with his wife Annabeth (Laura Linney) wasn't well-portrayed. The actors didn't have the best chemistry. This was no better evidenced than at the film's conclusion. After Jimmy has dealt some street justice, she comes onto him in some weird faux-sex scene proclaiming him to be a king among men. It was all very cringy, but maybe it was supposed to be.

But I thoroughly enjoyed Mystic River. If only Clint Eastwood did more directing instead of acting.