Movies about fucked-up people.

I am a big fan of movies about people who are more emotionally incompetent than I. This explains my early summer Bergman obsession, and also why I like John Hughes movies. Those people are adolescent though, so they have an excuse that I no longer feel is valid for me.

Last night I rented Match Point. It was directed by Woody Allen, but you wouldn't know it. The characters talked at a normal pace, and other than the self-obsession, and boring amounts of sexual intrigue, it wasn't much of a Woody Allen movie at all. For one thing, I could finish it, which hasn't been true for any movie he's made since Everyone Says I Love You (which was excellent and adorable).

The movie is shot like a current, bland romantic comedy, including beautiful actors, product placement (Ralph Lauren, Cartier), jaunts to all the touristy places in London (the theatre, the Thames, the Tate Modern, Buckingham Palace) as well as elaborate mansions in the English countryside. The people spend most of their time being gorgeous, but since this is a Woody Allen film and he doesn't much care for pretty people, they are therefore painfully boring and clearly destructive. And continue to be that way, for the entirety of the film. It was a brand of torture-- wanting to watch pretty people do awful things that weren't quite awful enough to be turly interesting. And it lasted for two hours. It totally confounded me. I have no pity or connection to any of the characters, who relied only on their good looks and stupidity, yet I didn't particularly want to stop watching. It was absolutely bizarre. I attribute it to my love of these types of movies when they are a little better written and with a slightly less attractive cast, but I'm probably just making excuses.

Oh well. I would probably enjoy soap operas if I managed to start watching them. That is a sort of amazing realization.