Tenet

In September 2020, the movie Tenet was released. I watched the hit film twice in the same year at theaters.

The story follows the protagonist who is paired with a mysterious guy named Neil and struggles to save a woman and the world from the villain.

Although I do not like time travel stories, yet I thought that I should have watched the film because of the reputation and the intriguing preview. I beforehand watched the first and second installment of Back to the Future, which I had avoid watching for a long time because they have time travel stories, in preparation to do Tenet.

When I firstly did the hit film, I gave up understanding the difficult time inversion scenes and the time-series far more complicated than Back to the Future before the middle but I could at least enjoy watching it from the start to the end because of the wonderful pictures. That was the second movie starring John David Washington that I had ever watched following BlacKkKlansman. He was not more glamourous than his father, Denzel Washington, but he had presence, which impressed me. I was also stricken by how sophisticated Robert Pattinson appeared and how beautiful the blonde tall Elizabeth Debicki looked. I watched both of them for the first time. Then I felt that the three actors gave a wonderful performance.

When I secondly did it, I could not understand the intricate time-series so much, so I just enjoyed watching the fantastic screen images again. I was also impressed with the playing of the two veteran actors, Michael Caine appearing for a short time and Kenneth Branagh playing the villain, in addition to the above three actors. I was especially stricken by a superb performance that Robert Pattinson gave as Neil who has what he wants to say but has to hide it feeling painful and looking cool to the end.

Honestly, I do not badly want to understand the time inversion scenes. I would be able to naturally do them as I repeatedly watch them. Anyway, I want to enjoy how I do them. It seems that I will have a long-term relationship with the movie as well as Blade Runner.

The last scene looks like the one of Casablanca. The entertaining blockbuster is filled with various elements.

TENET テネット

2020年９月に公開された話題作『TENET テネット』を、同年に２回劇場観覧した。

主人公の男が謎の男ニールと組んで、悪党から世界とある女性を救うために奮闘する物語。

タイムトラベル物は好きではないのだが、面白そうな予告編や評判から、本作は観ておくべきだと思い、まず、長年敬遠していた同じタイムトラベル物である『バック・トゥ・ザ・フューチャー』のパート１と２を予習も兼ねて観覧前にDVDにて観賞した。

１回目の観覧では、『BTTF』よりもはるかに複雑な時系列や「時間の逆行」の難解さに、早々に理解するのを放棄し、ひたすらその素晴らしい映像を楽しんだ。主演のジョン・デヴィッド・ワシントンを観るのは『ブラック・クランズマン』に続いて２回目。父親のデンゼル・ワシントンほどの華は無いが、その存在感に魅せられた。目を見張ったのは、初めて観るロバート・パティンソンの洗練された雰囲気と、同じく初めて観る金髪で長身のエリザベス・デビッキの美しさ。３人とも、演技も素晴らしかった。

２回目の観覧でも、その時系列を理解することは出来ず、その素晴らしい映像をただただ堪能した。そして、ベテラン俳優の２人、出番少な目のマイケル・ケインと悪役のケネス・ブラナーと、前述の３人の役者の演技を楽しんだ。特に、今回も、言いたいことを言えないもどかしさをおくびにも出さず、最後までクールに演じきったロバート・パティンソンの演技に魅せられた。

「時間の逆行」のシーンは、正直、積極的に理解する気はない。何度か観れば自然と理解出来るだろう。その過程を楽しもうと思う。『ブレード・ランナー』同様、長い付き合いになりそうな作品だ。

ラストが『カサブランカ』みたいだった。色んな要素が詰まった超娯楽大作。

La La Land

In April 2019, I watched the musical La La Land for the first time at Kinema Junpo Theater. I was really moved by the serious and sophisticated movie, yet the optimistic musical The Greatest Showman, which I watched one week later, was quite amusing, moreover, its music was too fantastic to remember how moved I had been by La La Land, though I thought that I would watch it again someday in a relaxed mood every time I saw the movie title on the internet. Then, in January 2021, I finally watched it at Marunouchi Piccadilly, a theater in Tokyo, again.

The film follows a young man and a young woman. The man is a jazz pianist. The woman goes for an actress. They are drawn to each other and encourage themselves to chase their respective dreams.

The young man and woman firstly meet in a traffic jam when they have ill feelings against each other. They meet again when Mia has a bad feeling against Seb but she was at least attracted by his piano performance. After that, they encounter in a party when they gradually become friends and finally start to date with each other. They also encourage themselves to make their respective dreams come true.

At the beginning, Mia looks unappealing, so I suspected that Emma Stone playing Mia had become unattractive before I knew it. She, however, gets increasingly pretty as she becomes friends and starts to date with Seb. I was really impressed by how she gets attractive falling in love with him. I thought that Ryan Gosling also gave a wonderful performance as Seb, all the same, I felt that Stone's performance was more fantastic.

I was most impressed with the scene where Mia gazes at Seb who is playing the keyboard instrument with a vague smile as a member of his old friend's band in a concert. In fact, I shed tears when I watched it for the second time. I then felt as if the two characters in the scene were asking me whether I live true to myself. 

ラ・ラ・ランド

2019年４月、キネマ旬報シアターにて、ミュージカル映画『ラ・ラ・ランド』を初観覧。リアルでシリアスな物語と洗練された作りに感動した。ただ、その一週間後に観覧した、楽天的なミュージカル『グレイテスト・ショーマン』が楽しすぎて、そして、その楽曲が素晴らしすぎて、本作の感動は薄れてしまっていった。だが、ネット上で本作のタイトルを目にするたびに、いつかまたゆっくり観賞しようと思ってはいた。そして、2021年１月、満を持して、丸の内ピカデリーにて再観覧した。

ジャズ・ピアニストのセブと女優志望のミアが、惹かれ合いながら、励まし合いながら、それぞれの夢を追いかける物語。

その若い二人は、まず、交通渋滞の中で出会った。その時の印象は、お互いあまりよくなくて、その後の再会の時もそうだった。だが、その再会時、ミアは、セブのピアノ演奏には惹かれていた。そして、その後も、またあるパーティで再会。それから、二人の距離は徐々に縮まり、いつしか、恋人同士になり、お互いの夢を応援することとなった。

ミアを演じているのは、エマ・ストーン。ストーンってこんなにブスだったっけと感じる程、序盤のミアは魅力的ではないが、セブと仲良くなり恋仲になっていくにつれて、彼女はどんどん可愛らしくなっていく。恋をして綺麗になっていくミアには本当に魅せられた。セブ役のライアン・ゴズリングも好演していたが、ミアを演じたストーンの方が光って見えた。

一番印象に残ったのは、旧友のバンドに加わって、コンサートで何とも言えない笑みを浮かべながら演奏しているセブを、ミアが見つめるシーン。その二人に、自分に嘘をついていないか問われた気がして、２回目の観賞時は、涙が零れた。