Movie Recs: Sofia Coppola core
Welcome to the FREE Monday newsletter, where I give you some unsolicited movie recommendations. This week, we’re going full Sofia Coppola core: here are a couple of her (and my) favorite films!
In the Mood for Love
Have you ever been asked the question, what movie would you want to live inside of? For me, In the Mood for Love is kind of the perfect answer. It’s so warm and lush, and don’t get me started on that noodle shop (in addition to being a romantic classic, In the Mood for Love is also maybe a perfect food movie). I saw this in a theater over the weekend, and it was pretty wonderful listening to people react who hadn’t seen it before. In one climactic moment, Tony Leung’s character tells Maggie Cheung, “I didn’t think you’d fall in love with me,” and someone in the back of the theater gasped. The power of cinema, baby!
The Piano
Taking away one of Holly Hunter’s most powerful tools as an actor – her voice – is one of those things that really shouldn’t work. But Jane Campion must be a braver soul than the rest of us, because Hunter’s mute turn in The Piano is one of her best. If you haven’t seen The Piano, the best way I can describe the feeling that it gives me is, “feral.” The chemistry between Hunter and Harvey Keitel is so intense, and their physical connection with each other feels so real, and lived in. In so many movies, sex is a fantasy – the movie is showing us something far removed from what sex is actually like in real life. But in The Piano, it’s the opposite. That’s how bodies in motion really look.
Thanks for reading! See you on Friday for the paid edition.
I was trying to think of something clever to write to go along with your clever writing…. But I can’t think of anything so just read Posney’s post a second time!! 😁😁
Holly and Harvey - a treasure in The Piano. Your points on this are very perceptive. "Feral" - Yes, I get it.