Perhaps I should not have written that Les amants reguliers lacks heartfelt moments until the last 10 minutes. After some rumination, what I said is simply not true. Even if it is, Garrel did it with an intention. One can easily see that the insouciance and casualness of the middle 2 hours capture the mood of that particular era. The portray evidently differs from the vision of energy and vivacity that Godard offers. Instead, we have seemingly interminable scenes with people smoking opium and moving in and out of apartments. Few of them really talk to each other. These scenes are very similar to those involving Bulle Ogier's hippie store in Out 1, Noli me tangere. Indeed, the two lead actors in Garrel's movie eagerly take turns trying to convince the audience that they are the Jean-Pierre Leaud of the 21st century. Then, at the end, all of a sudden some characters see the reality for the first time and finally recognize the necessity to find themselves a more realistic future. Thankfully, there are no gratuitously violent accidents that climax many other languidly-paced films.
Still, I would recommend L'Amour fou above Les amants reguliers. I can finally feel what L'Amour fou is about: a feeble yet tenacious man clinging to a hopeless relationship, which can be a metaphor for the dying idealism of the 60s. On the other hand, one can also read the film as one of the first cinematic statements about a woman's emancipation from the male order. I am starting to like the film more and more. Hopefully the DVD will appear one day.
Today, however, I watched a really bad movie: Hard Candy. First 10 minutes are mildly riveting, especially for the really sharp and claustrophobic photography (tight close-ups shot in scope) and remarkably naturalistic acting. Then as the main show begins, everything falls apart. In addition to the implausible story, the characters are completely deprived of depth and subtlety. All they do are shouting and sweating to each other. Unlike the other viewers, I don't feel like cutting the girl up with a scalpel. It's the director who needs to be banned from making films until he shows sensibility.
