A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Directed by Elia Kazan. Starring Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden.

Long story short: Blanche comes to visit her sister Stella and immidiately begins to clash with Stella's husband Stanley. (Okay, this summary sounds like a plot of a bad romantic comedy. It shouldn't.) 

A Streetcar Named Desire is based on a famous play by Tennessee Williams. I first saw the film a few years back and thought it was boring and anticlimactic and a typical classic. This spring I studied the play for a course and thought I should give the film another try - now that I'm more mature educated about the story and the characters. And well, I have to admit I still didn't love it, nor do I feel a need to see it again any time soon, but I kind of see why the film has earned its classic status and can appreciate the complexity of the story and the characters.

In many ways Streetcar resembles a play performed in a theatre. Almost every scene takes place in Stella and Stanley's shabby apartment. You can easily imagine how it would look on stage. There's a lot of talk and a little action, which is probably why it's so difficult to like.

Like I said, the characters of Streetcar are very complex. They are also very flawed, all in their own ways. Blanche, played by Vivien Leigh of Gone with the Wind, is weak, vain and phony, a true drama queen, always fishing compliments about her fading looks and struggling with her past. Marlon Brando's Stanley is a travesty of a man, very primative, brutally honest and sometimes violent, intentionally cruel and never caring much about other's feelings. Stella is kind of sweet, plain looking, the easiest character to sympathesize with, but avoiding the fact that her husbad is what he is, she always comes back to him no matter what he does, because she's just too attracted to him.

The performances are a key element in a story like this. Without the right cast it just wouldn't work. And yeah, the actors rock it, of course. Leigh is amazingly neurotic and annoying, and Brando is just so disgusting (behind that pretty face and awesome abs. I had a very brief Marlon Brando phase after I saw this the first time). It's interesting to learn how people's sympathies lie with different characters. For example I can only sympathize with Stella - in the end with Blanche, too, but never with Stanley. What a horrible man, seriously!

So. There has been some progress. Not anymore would I call Streetcar boring or anticlimactic. Still, it is a typical classic, and not a favourite movie candidate I can watch again and again. But respect to the people who made this film. And to Brando, who created one of the most despicable male characters ever, and earned his place in the history of cinema by being wet and half-naked, looking desperate and screaming "STELLA, STELLA" with all his might.

"I've always depended on the kindness of strangers."

A Single Man

I actually had to go to school today, whoa, shocker! I had a lecture about North American culture and literature, and when we started talking about A Streetcar Named Desire, I even started listening. I saw the movie based on the play some years ago, and I remember not liking it. I thought it was boring and anti-climactic. Now, as the lecturer talked about the characters and the themes (with his British accent that almost makes me like the guy. Nah, kidding, he's alright) and so on, I felt like I should watch it again. Surely I have matured enough during these years to understand and appreciate this classic? Eh, wouldn't count on it, but it has young Marlon Brando in it, so I might as well give it another change.

Ok, here's something I'd been looking forward to.

A Single Man (2009)


Directed by Tom Ford. Starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult.

Long story (very) short: George, who has recently lost his partner, attempts to get through another day of his life, which he doesn't really care about anymore.

First observation: fashion designers should make more movies. The look of the film is absolutely fantastic, and quite unique, I could've just watched the film without sound. Every shot and every frame was so carefully planned and arranged. Colours were very beautiful, the way they changed the mood of the scene (and vice versa). The colours made the most common-place settings look almost other-wordly and magical. And whoa, the cinematography, all those strange points of view and croppings. The film is just art!

And now I'm even more disapointed that Colin Firth didn't get his Oscar. Damn you Academy! Alright, I haven't seen Crazy Heart and of course the nomination is a great recognizion in itself. But Colin oh Colin, why have you wasted all these years doing stupid comedies, when you can actually do drama so freaking well?? (No, I take part of that back, my world would be a slightly darker place without him singing Our Last Summer and dancing around in that horrible outfit in Mamma Mia!) And doesn't he look just dashing?


I saw an interview some time ago... He said that when Tom Ford had told him how the film would begin - a shot of him lying naked on a bed - he had obviously been a bit horrified and Ford had added something like: "You know, you're a good-looking guy. But if you want to work out a bit, that would be good, just so that you feel more comfortable yourself." Hah. But obviously he did work out. It's easy to see that Tom Ford likes male bodies, he makes them look so beautiful in this film. Well, he makes everyone look beautiful. Speaking of which...

Mirror mirror on the wall, who in the land is fairest of all? Here's your answer.


Somewhere between About A Boy and A Single Man, something happened to Nicholas Hoult. Just to remind you what he looked like back when he was hanging around with Hugh Grant and singing Killing Me Softly... Behold the wonders of puberty.


Doesn't this give hope to all those poor little boys who are being bullied? Don't worry, love, one day you'll grow up to look like this.


Things are certainly looking good for Nicholas Hoult. I think he was quite compelling in this film, and it's not only because Tom Ford made him look like Adonis. Or at least I don't think so. In fact, I felt the only part of the film that dragged a bit was the scene with Julianne Moore, who wasn't bad, no. I was just waiting for that divine boy to appear again. And I used to watch Skins and think he's too pretty. Hmh.

A Single Man is quite astonishing, indeed. I can't remember seeing anything quite like it before. I haven't really said anything about the plot. Well, time to time I felt that the plot didn't really even matter, I enjoyed what I was watching anyway. But yes - the plot was good, too.

"It takes time in the morning for me to become George, time to adjust to what is expected of George and how he is to behave. By the time I have dressed and put the final layer of polish on the now slightly stiff but quite perfect George I know fully what part I'm suppose to play."

Now... I feel like a very lousy student for being sober this close to Vappu. I promise I'll do my best tomorrow. Maybe a day without movies would be only good for a change. Before I forget how to socialize and actually talk to people. Haha. Oh well. Hyvää vappua, anyways.