Two Rewatches

I rewatched a pair of movies from 1979 before completing a "Favorites of 1979" list. One I liked better than I did before while the other I liked slightly less. I don't really have a lot to say about either, but I'll say things anyway.

I've seen this three times at three different stages in my life, and I've probably liked it a little more each time. When I'm a nonagenarian, it'll likely be my favorite movie.

The cinematography remains the star of the movie. The actual star of the movie isn't as easy to watch because of Woody Allen's sordid biography, and his quirks and tics and even his tocks are more grating here than they are in some of his earlier 70's work. I really liked the use of the Gershwin music throughout.

Another movie that becomes something else in my old age and increasing self-awareness, Being There surprises by having so much to do with being a white man in America. This is a movie very much about white privilege with Sellers asking guys for lunch, leering at basketball players and black cartoon characters, imitating stuff he sees on the television, and assuming that all black people know each other. As a character says, "It's for a sure a white man's world in America." And another--"All you've got to be is white in America to get what you want." The last one is followed by an ironic applause. Chance gets a--pun alert--chance to excel because he's 1) white and 2) male. Assumptions made by others who see only what they want to see gives him a power he doesn't understand or even want. He gets the benefit of the doubt because of the color of his skin and a nice-enough wardrobe.

I could watch television with Chance, but I'm going to need to hold on to the remote control.

My favorite scene is probably the one where a woman's trying to seduce Chance while Mr. Rogers sings about friendship in the background. My favorite exchange is this one:

"Have you ever had sex with a man?"
Chance: "No, I don't think so."