Thursday, May 16, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #253: Letters



Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Letters

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I love receiving actual physical letters (bills and advertisements excluded of course). I also love nice stationery and that's one of the fun things about snail mail is that the writer's personality come through not only in the content of the letter but in the handwriting and the choice of writing materials. Then of course if the writer is from oceans away, it's nice to see the colourful pretty postage stamps, proof as how far and how long this physical thing has come to reach you. Anyway here are my picks of movies where letters play an important role.

84 Charing Cross Road (1987)
Based on a true story, its follows a New York City writer who begins a business correspondence with a second-hand bookstore in London for the purpose of purchasing books which eventually develops into real friendship between her and the staff of the store. While the movie is charming, it lacks an actual story I think. Not really a three act structure kind of thing. It's basically just these letters between the writer and the bookstore staff for nearly 20 years in which they tell each other what happens in their lives.
 
Dear Frankie (2004)
After responding to her son's letters pretending to be his father, a single mom hires a stranger to pose as him when meeting her son. I have not seen this in a long time. I don't really remember much of it now other than I really liked it when I saw it and would very much like to rewatch it some time.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018)
A teen girl's secret love letters (ones that were never meant to be sent) get mysteriously mailed out to her crushes. I've picked this before for the Romantic Comedies theme. I enjoyed the movie a lot; it is cute, funny and the leads have great chemistry. I like the books and was so pleased that the movie ended up quite loyal to the source as well and that the sequel is in the works.

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7 comments:

  1. OHHH I LOVE 84 Charing Cross Road!! Loved the book as well, which the film follows closely. It doesn't have the conventional setup but I think it definitely tells the story of those two characters, and the people surrounding them, lives. Plus it has those tremendous performances from Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins.

    I haven't seen the other two but I'm intrigued.

    Lots of choices this week, I went with two favorites and an obscure John Huston thriller.

    A Letter to Three Wives (1949)-Three well to do suburban wives (Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern and Jeanne Crain) are preparing to chaperone a children’s outing to an island picnic when they receive a letter from their mutual fremeny Addie Ross that she won’t be joining them because she’s left town and in so doing has taken one of their husbands with her. Cut off from the world for the day each wife reviews her marriage wondering if she’s the one now husbandless. Incisive look at personal relationships was nominated for many Oscars (and should have garnered a few more) and won best screenplay and director for Joseph Mankiewicz.

    This was one of my selections for Dell’s Girl Week a few years back.
    https://dellonmovies.blogspot.com/2016/11/girl-week-2016-letter-to-three-wives.html

    The Letter (1940)-The film opens on a pan of a sleepy night on a Malaysian plantation when the peace is shattered by a gunshot. A man stumbles out of the house and down the stairs followed by a woman (Bette Davis) emptying her revolver into him. She tells her husband and the law that the man, a family friend, was attacking her and maintains her innocence throughout a trial but suddenly the dead man’s Eurasian wife sends word through an emissary that she possesses a letter that holds secrets. Top notch drama contains one of Davis’s best, most contained performances guided by William Wyler.

    The Kremlin Letter (1970)-An unauthorized letter is sent to Moscow alleging the U.S. government's willingness to help Russia attack China. Former naval officer Charles Rone (Patrick O'Neal) and his team are sent to retrieve the missive. Going undercover they successfully reach out to Erika Kosnov (Bibi Andersson), the wife of a former agent, now married to the head of Russia's secret police (Max von Sydow). Their plans are interrupted, however, when their Moscow hideout is raided by a cunning politician (Orson Welles). Decent cold war thriller directed by John Huston loaded with familiar faces including George Sanders and Max von Sydow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your picks are older films, thus I haven't seen them.

      I am intrigued by your middle pick though.

      Delete
  2. You are the 2nd person who mentioned 84 Charring Cross Rd and I would like to see this. I haven’t seen the other 2 although I would see the other 2.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've only seen your last pick, which I really wanted to like but just didn't. I was disappointed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh no you didn't? I had the impression that it was well liked.

      Delete
  4. I was so disappointed in your last pick. I looooove the book, it's perfect, and it fits better as a Netflix series not a movie. The movie was just rushed and disappointing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't see it as a TV series. I don't think each book has enough material to sustain a season of episodes. One book one movie is enough for me.

      Delete

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