I liked the WEST SIDE STORY/Umbrellas of Cherbourg combination
--- the characters exude understated loneliness and passion/longing in their (usually) solitary musings/hallucinations like the doomed lovers in the French film; while the superbly choreographed dances are lively, flamboyant and outrageous, as in the Robert Wise musical classic.
The picture's quality is so sleek, glossy and crisp- just like the sharply polished characters with their cool jobs and lifestyles. Although they tend to be alienating --- so "Melrose Place", they belong to a TV show rather than a movie, they're just too devastatingly gorgeous, hip and lucky--- some characters have the odd, downright pathetic (though emotionally lightweight) predicament that make us somehow care about them (and of course, envy them).
What further heightens my TV soap-opera comparison is the characters being trapped in the little world they created themselves, which, although very exciting, is also very stressful and complicated. Hence, the songs are mostly performed in small, enclosed places and in medium shots and close-ups, unlike in the grand, majestic West Side Story and Umbrellas of Cherbourg musicals.
The highstrung dramatic moments are kept in check by the funny, ironic twists and the characters' amusing weaknesses, and why is it that the men are such cads and a-holes and cute lovable hunks at the same time?
Despite the preoccupation with very personal "issues", the film manages to get some social commentary in. Though the guys in testosterone overdrive just wanna have fun, they acknowledge the warrior-like quality of women and the fact that it is they who control the sexual relationship. Likewise, the characters take "marriage" humorously and lightly- in fact, even mock it with a naughty grin.
Not a particularly illuminating and substantial film, but its bombastic, wacky dances, sexy anatomies galore and sizzling, riotous swinging-sex-partner-swapping action guarantee that you're in for an enjoyable rockin' and bed-rollin...
Best seen "on the other side of the bed" with your partner
