Thursday, July 19, 2007

Casablanca (1943): Eitan's Take

Nothing can be said about Casablanca that hasn't already been said. One's first time seeing the movie feels like the hundredth; everything has a strange and beautiful familiarity. No romance has ever been better, no wartime picture has ever been more spectacular and complex, no drama has ever been more personal or more perfectly constructed. The whole film plays out like a "greatest quotes of all time" list, and each scene bears with it a special resonance, different from and counterpart to all the rest. At the same time, everyone feels about Casablanca the way they want to feel -- everyone loves it differently but equally. Every viewer owns their own chord of "As Time Goes By," their own self-deprecating Rick witticism, and their own piece of Ilsa and Victor's suffering. Thirty years from now, sixty years from now, one hundred years from now, every frame will still ring true. This is a film that no one can take away from you.

The perfect Best Picture winner, the perfect film. I would be insane to give this anything but the most heartfelt 10/10.

P.S. I would LOVE to see the remake with Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck! OMG YES!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ha! Love this post - and this film! Truly the greatest film of all time - no matter what the AFI says.

This is a great blog, too - I plan to catch up and see each of these films as well.