Thoughts on Desk Set

    On Criterion last Sunday, I watched Desk Set, a 1957 romantic comedy directed by Walter Lang and written by Henry and Phoebe Ephron, adapted from the 1955 play of the same name by Walter Marchant. The movie centers on Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn), a documentalist who works in the reference department of a television network in Manhattan. She and the other librarians (Joan Blondell, Dina Merrill, Sue Randall) all answer phone calls from the general public asking about obscure trivia questions from their reference library, and the women have all memorized facts and can tell people things immediately, or know exactly what section the reference material it is in. The women have bonded with each other, and are close with other secretaries in the building, working like a network to look out for each other. 

    Methods engineer and efficiency expert Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy) comes in for a meeting with the boss Mr. Azae (Nicolas Joy), but arrives a day early for his appointment, so he spends time in the reference department, arising suspicion from the librarians. It is eventually revealed that Sumner has developed a giant computer system called Electromagnetic Memory and Research Arithmetical Calculator, with the acronym EMERAC, nicknamed "Emmy." He and Mr. Azae have been in talks to install the computer in the reference department, as a faster way of generating results from the public questions, and the librarians fear that this machine will replace them and put them out of work. This also made me think of the film Hidden Figures, where the women "computers" at NASA work as mathematicians but aren't valued, and a giant IBM computer in the 1960s threatens to replace them.

    Bunny is dating rising network executive Mike Cutler (Gig Young), but is frustrated that after seven years together, he hasn't proposed to her yet. Richard finds Bunny to be smart and captivating and is intrigued by her, especially when he interviews her about her ability to calculate facts and information very quickly, like asking questions about train arrivals and number of passengers at stops.

    I wasn't as into the romantic comedy parts of the movie, although I did like the scenes where Bunny impressed Richard with her sharp intelligence. But I was really into the scenes with her and her coworkers, like with Joan Blondell as being a co-leader with Bunny, with her older age and seniority, and I've always liked her as a great comedic actress of the 1930s. 

    As an archivist, I related a lot to the reference environment and being able to memorize random facts and niche trivia to ramble off to people, and was amazed at how prescient the film was with the librarians fearing that the computer would take over their jobs, like the fear today with A.I. being used to replace people in the tech industry and leading to massive layoffs.

    The finale, where Neva Patterson as Miss Warriner is trying to handle the phones and enter information into Emmy at the same time, and taking too long to deliver the answers and getting the wrong results from Emmy was hilarious, and an excellent scene of comedic acting from her, especially when she just freaks out on everybody out of sheer frustration, it was awesome.

    I really liked this film, and I had recognized the last name of the writers, and was correct in realizing they were the parents of the journalist/screenwriter/director Nora Ephron, who would reach mainstream fame with her romantic comedies Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, and Julie & Julia, and writing the screenplays for When Harry Met Sally . . ., Silkwood, and Heartburn.

    This was a really good movie, and I'm happy I watched it.

Thoughts on Memoir of a Snail

     On Hulu, I watched Memoir of a Snail, a 2024 Australian stop-motion animated tragicomedy film written and directed by Adam Eliot. The film centers on a twin brother and sister, Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and Grace (Sarah Snook), who come of age in 1970s Melbourne, being separated by being orphaned in youth, and largely following Grace's life as a lonely misfit.

    The twins' mother had died in childbirth, and they are raised by their French father Percy (Dominique Pinon), who was once a juggler and street performer but is now a paraplegic alcoholic. Grace develops an affinity for collecting snails, which her late mother was fond of as well, and her brother protects her from bullies who tease her for her cleft lip. When their father dies from sleep apnea, the children are split into different foster families and separated on opposite ends of the country, with Grace in Canberra and Gilbert in Perth. Grace is raised by a nudist swingers couple who are kind but often absent to pursue their own adult lives, and Gilbert is raised by a Christian fundamentalist family who abuse him and force him to do grunt work of putting stickers on their apples for very little pay, which he is expected to give to the church collection jar weekly.

    Grace, while receiving letters from Gilbert and hoping to be reunited, makes friends with Pinky (Jacki Weaver), an eccentric and kind older woman who has lived a colorful life despite setbacks (both her husbands died by accident; she got fired from many jobs; she lost her pinky finger while dancing), and she becomes Grace's foster mother when her foster parents retire to join a nudist colony. She acts as a supportive rock for Grace, as Grace grows up and becomes an obsessive hoarder with her snails and snail-related collectibles, wearing a snail hat with eyes on wires on top.

   This film was incredibly touching to me. It has a very dark, weird, sepia-toned look to it, and it's a film meant for adults, not a children's film. As Grace and Gilbert grow up, they face more challenges and struggles, and I related a lot to Grace wanting to cocoon herself at home with her favorite things, especially as her trauma has kept her from really living her life. Pinky's words to her at the end of the film (Pinky dies as an old woman right at the beginning of the film, then the film starts at the twins' childhood to get to how Pinky came to be in Grace's life) really resonated with me:

    "No, I won't tell you the horrors I remember, but do want to tell you what it's like to feel imprisoned, caged. It was simply dreadful. But in the years since, I've learnt that the worst cages are the ones we create for ourselves. You have created a cage for yourself, Gracie. Your cage has never been locked . . . but your fears have kept you trapped . . . Start anew. A bit of self-pity's OK, but it's time to move on. There'll be pain, but that's life. You have to face it head-on. Be brave."

    The film was loosely based on Eliot's own life, and was Oscar-nominated for Best Animated Film. Eliot had won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for his 2003 short film Harvie Krumpet. The lead actors are great in the film, but especially Jacki Weaver, who was fantastic as Pinky and brings a lot of heart to this wonderful oddball character who acknowledges that life is hard, but doesn't want to dwell on looking backwards. She will help Grace by making comparisons to snails, saying that snails only move forward, and don't go backwards over their own paths.

    I'm glad I checked out this film, it was a strange little gem to watch.

Thoughts on The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant

    On Criterion, I watched The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, a 1972 West German New Wave psychological romantic film written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, based on his play of the same name. The film centers on the title character Petra von Kant (Margit Carstensen), a fashion designer who lives in a luxurious apartment in Bremen, and the whole film takes place in the apartment. She is rich, very thin, and lounges around in gowns and wigs, ordering around her silent personal assistant Marlene (Irm Hermann), who keeps a taciturn expression.

    Petra is twice-married, her first husband having died in a car accident when Petra was pregnant with their daughter, Gaby, and she recently divorced her second husband because of his controlling nature. Through her cousin Sidonie (Katrin Schaake), she meets Sidonie's friend Karin (Hanna Schygulla), a young 23-year old woman, who just returned to Germany after having lived in Sydney for five years with her husband. Petra is immediately attracted to Karin, telling her she should be a model, and the two develop a quick relationship, with Petra offering to financially support her while she trains to become a model. They talk about their lives, Petra having grown up happy and comfortable while Karin came from a traumatic background. Petra projects an obsession onto Karin, being enraptured by her, while Karin is flattered by the compliments but doesn't feel the same for Petra.

    The film is more of a melodrama, and Petra's obsession with Karin does feel over-the-top, especially when she's only known her for a short time, but codependency is a big part of the story, as Petra feels lonely, often at home with Marlene at her beck and call, and clings to Karin's youth and beauty, despite that Petra herself is only 35 and still very beautiful and young herself.

    The film is set in the then-present of the 1970s, but has a 1930s look, with the women having short, styled hair, wearing cloche hats and long gowns, projecting more of a 1920s-1930s glamour to them, it did confuse me at first to figure out the time period of the story.

    I found Marlene more fascinating in her silence, especially when observing this doomed sapphic affair from a distance but unable to comment on it to stay professional, but judging it all the same.

    I liked the film, but the melodrama was too much for me, and made me talk back at the screen like, "C'mon, Petra, get it together" when she's moaning over wanting Karin to love her back or wanting her to return. It was a nice film to watch, but not really for me.