Brief Encounter

Title: Brief Encounter
Year: 1945
Director: David Lean
Writer: Anthony Havelock-Allan, David Lean & Ronald Neame, based on a play by Noel Coward
Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard
Music: Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 2nd piano concerto
Distinctions: currently #167 on IMDb’s Top 250
Length: 86 minutes
Synopsis: an ordinary mother/housewife imagines telling her husband about a man she fell in love with
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), March 2009
Subjective Rating: 8/10 9/10
Objective Rating: 10/10

The depth and realism of the characters in this movie is remarkable. Take the scene where she lies to her husband – something you see on just about every episode of every bad sitcom, not to mention almost every “romantic” movie ever made; this movie is probably the only time it’s felt as gut-wrenching as it should. I don’t care for Rachmaninoff, but they used the music cleverly: what’s on the radio while she’s “telling” the story is the flashback’s score.

The Lost Weekend

Title: The Lost Weekend
Year: 1945
Director: Billy Wilder
Writers: Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder, based on the novel by Charles R. Jackson
Starring: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman
Music: Miklós Rózsa
Distinctions: Oscars for best picture, director, screenplay (non-original) and actor (Milland); currently #210 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: a drunk struggles with addiction
Length: 101 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), October 2008
Subjective Rating: 5/10
Objective Rating: 5/10 (gets points for characters, dialog, pacing, acting and music)

The first Billy Wilder movie that I didn’t love. To be fair, I probably would have absolutely hated it if anyone else had directed. The story just isn’t interesting. I didn’t like any of the characters (although they’re effectively realized). One thing I did like: musical saw!