DVD 2: Shall We Kiss?

I will admit that I have a fondness for French movies, particularly French romantic comedies. I also have an affection for Virginie Ledoyen, whom I first saw in 8 Femmes. When I read the synoposis of the movie, Shall We Kiss?, I was intrigued. This movie starts with a man (Gabriel) who asks a woman, whom he escorted back to her hotel, for a goodnight kiss. Despite the obvious attraction, the woman is wary. She then recounts a story about a friend of hers, Judith (Virgine Ledoyen), who is happily (so surmises Emilie) married to Claudio. Her best friend, Nicolas, recently broke up with his girlfriend. He has been having a hard time with his life because he misses having passion (or a relationship). Thus begins the premise--and the reason why Emilie refuses to kiss Gabriel. He asks Judith for a kiss (and more). Both Judith and Nicolas are then thrown into a quandary: are they in love, or are they just in need of physical affection? This innocently intended kiss then leads to an affair, which then affects their lives and relationships with their significant others. (A month after their first encounter, Nicolas meets and begins dating another woman.) Although I wouldn't classify this movie as a true romantic comedy, it is a film that explores the consequences of carrying an affair with others who are in relationships, and the guilt and happiness that goes along with all of these affairs. Although Judith and Nicolas concoct a scheme to lessen the guilt of this affair (and to ensure that they are able to be in a relationship together), things don't necessarily go according to plan. I found that I was most intrigued by how Judith and Nicolas dealt with their scheme and the consequences of the scheme. Notable in this film is Câline, who is Nicolas' girlfriend. She was a surprise to me and I particularly enjoyed her supporting role. Claudio does not have much to do until the last third of the movie, which I thought was a shame. But perhaps the writer did not want the audience to be too sympathetic toward him? I'm still trying to decide if I liked this movie or not. In some regards, I enjoyed it (mostly because of the acting), but the moral conflicts have me conflicted, too.

Netflix: The beginning

Finally, we've caved and gotten Netflix. I like movies. I always write down movies that I need to watch/want to watch, and this time, I've put a heck of a lot of movies in my Netflix queue. So this is just basically my reactions to the movies or shows that I watch as they come in (and rest assured that I will have forgotten what I placed in my queue, so each and every movie/show will be a surprise to me). We signed up for Netflix two days ago, and the first movie that we got is Ponyo, which is a Studio Ghibli film. I put this movie in my queue because there are two other movies from that studio that I enjoy: Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. This movie essentially centers around a young boy who finds a small fish that he renames Ponyo. She becomes human and the two children have an adventure. (And somewhere along the way, Ponyo releases some prehistoric fish/creatures). Unless Ponyo returns to the ocean, the world's balance will be thrown off and essentially, the moon will crash into the earth. Something like that. Let me just say that I thought that the story was a bit wackadoo. I'm just glad that my first Studio Ghibli movie was Spirited Away (and this tends to be the standard to which I compare the other films). The things I liked about the film: voices (Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett); the animation