I Found it at the Movies

Hi everyone. Today I’m going to do a review of Silent Life: The Story of the Lady in Black. I’m doing this because I heard about this movie when somebody sent me an invitation to basically get a, what do you call it? A preview link, whatever you call it, a reviewer’s link. So I feel that I really should say something about this movie because it’s worth seeing. It’s a very interesting experience for me because … Well, let me just tell you a little about the movie, which the description on IMDB seemed very odd to me. So here’s what I found. To me, this looked like, for one thing, it’s just technically beautiful, which you would expect about a movie made about Hollywood, by Hollywood.

But yeah, it’s gorgeous. And there’s this mysterious lady in black who shows up for Valentino’s funeral or memorial or whatever. So … it hardly matters. But anyway, I was trying to figure out who the protagonist was. And it’s the documentary maker who is making a documentary of this whole thing. This lady in black and the funeral itself and Valentino and all that. Anyway, that’s what it ends up being. It ends up being about Valentino as well as about this filmmaker who wants to talk about to this lady in black and understand her. It’s about the lady in black too. It’s about a lot of things. I have so many notes. I could not possibly just take all the [I hold up my notebook, at this point] … I wish I could just stuff this into ChatGPT and say, “Go to it. ” But I got to tell you, the things I loved about the movie, I loved the technical beauty of it.

I loved the acting. There were some great actors in this thing. Oh, I have a note here. “Sherilyn Fenn is AWESOME!” (I am quoting exactly as I wrote it in my notes.) There, I said it. Sherilyn Fenn is awesome. And the guy who plays Valentino, wonderful. Just wonderful acting. I mean, basically this movie has everything a movie should have. And you get it from the old lady’s perspective. That’s the thing. That’s the thing I kept thinking. Okay, this is coming from the old lady. This is coming from the old lady. I know this. I’m a writer. I know this. I’m also now a filmmaker, apparently. Okay. Having said that, the most minor of filmmakers, I might add. I mean, I’ve made one short film and it’s not even damn finished at this point, but it’s getting there. It really, really is getting there. Okay. So anyway, anyway, I really did love this movie because it has everything that a Hollywood movie should have.

It has the hard luck struggling immigrant story that Valentino came over and he was literally homeless and trying to figure out what to do. Couldn’t speak the language, all that stuff. Okay. So he’s struggling. He decides he’s going to stick with it anyway. Finds a guy who ends up being a gigolo basically and teaches him how to be a gigolo. “You have these wonderful eyes” (so he is told, by his “mentor”) and he does things with his eyes that just captivate women and blah, blah, blah. And this lady who’s telling the story was a nurse on the night that he made his premiere, his movie made a premiere or something. Anyway, so allegedly she was there when Valentino had some kind of horrible health issue. Anyway, the whole of the story is very, it’s captivating. You have really interesting technical things going on with the color.

I won’t go into detail. It’s better to watch it and appreciate it and look for those color changes because they’re significant. And the other thing I was going to say was, what else was I going to say? Oh, it reminded me of Beatlemania, the way the women responded to Valentino. It reminded me of Beatlemania. But it also was extremely interesting to look at the closeups of the women as they’re watching Valentino. I mean, it’s like, it’s as if they’re having sex with him right there in the theater. That’s the way they look. Or certainly they’re thinking about it. Boy, are they thinking about it and making it clear with their faces. People back then had faces.

I’m starting to sound like Gloria Swanson. Oh, that’s creepy. Okay. What else did I want to say? Oh, there’s a … Of course, somewhere in there, they have to do “Happy Days Are Here Again”. Ironically, of course. I love when they do that. That’s another nice Hollywood standard, right? No business like show business, eh? Let me see what else. “Lots of old time debauchery.” (Yes, I’m quoting, verbatim, from what I wrote in my hastily-scribbled notes.) What happened here? I don’t know. Oh, “Sherilyn Fenn is awesome!” I’ll just say it again. She is. “Cinema is about teamwork.” I really like that quote, because it really is. And that’s what I love about it, actually. It gives you the opportunity to work with other people. And it’s just a great business that way. I mean, some people would say, “Oh, it’s an awful business that way,” because it’s all nepotism. No, talent can help you a little bit, really.

And actually working at it and trying to be really good at it. Oh, I’m going off on more than just a review here, aren’t I? I’m too involved. I’m too close to what’s going on up there to maybe be rational or, I don’t know, what’s the word, objective about it.

But I really did think this movie was very interesting and not entirely … I won’t say entirely predictable, but it has the kind of ending I would have expected. (You could say it has an appropriate and thoughtful resolution. Damn! If only I’d actually said that.) And this person is very interesting. So I’m trying to think. I was thinking, this isn’t so much a documentary he’s making as an oral history and there’s a difference between an oral history and a documentary. It’s like the difference between documentary and journalism. The closer you get to the truth, the more it’s like journalism or should be, she said. Anyway, the farther you get from that, the more you get to the personal, the more it becomes like a memoir, which means that not everything you hear might be true. But the point is, it was told, it was somebody’s story. This is her story about somebody else’s story. So it’s interesting that way. And there is a flashback within a flashback, which I also found amusing.

People get on me about my flashbacks. Yeah, what can I say? I love them. Anyway, nicely done, and I enjoyed the movie very much. And if you’re into movies about celebrity, the price of fame, the heartlessness of New York, or the joys of the cinema, I don’t know. Anyway, if you like movies and you like watching celebrities make them, this is a great movie to see, and I enjoyed it a lot. I really did. So take care and I will talk to you later. Assuming you still want to listen to me. Be seeing you!

*****

That’s a nice, solid rating of approval. Without outright pandering. 🙂

Directed by Vladislav Alex Kozlov
Written by Ksenia Jarova, Natalia Dar Kozlov, and Vladislav Alex Kozlov
Produced by Vladislav Alex Kozlov

PS: This is one of the most moving trailers I’ve seen in a while.

Isabella! God, you’re beautiful! You’re awesome! Terry! You nailed it! 🙂

Damn near busted out crying at the end of the damn trailer!

Someday, I’ll figure out Patreon!

PPS: Next time, The Big Heat!