City of Beautiful Nonsense: A bit too much nonsense

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, only if you are deep into the weeds of vintage British cinema. If you prefer movies that actually move, you will probably be checking your watch by the twenty-minute mark. It is sweet, sure, but it is also exhausting.

The whole thing feels like a stage play that got lost on its way to a camera. Everyone is shouting their feelings at the back wall of the room. It is a bit much. 🎭

The emotional tug-of-war

Our heroine is basically trapped in a loop of sighing at windows. She loves the poor composer, but the dad is looming over everything like a grumpy shadow. It is classic stuff, but played so straight it hurts.

There is this one scene where they talk about money versus love that goes on forever. I started looking at the pattern of the wallpaper behind them instead of listening. The wallpaper was actually quite nice.

A weird little trip

If you are looking for something else from this era, Mr. Cohen Takes a Walk has a much better sense of humor about its own absurdity. This one takes itself way too seriously. It wants to be profound, but it ends up being just a bit repetitive.

• The lighting is very... flat.
• Some of the extras in the background look like they are waiting for a bus.
• The music is fine, I guess, but it is laid on really thick.

I kept waiting for someone to just say something normal. Everyone talks in these long, flowery sentences that nobody has ever actually used in real life. It is like they are trying to prove they are in a serious film. 🙄

I did like the way the actors handle the old sets, though. You can tell they are trying their best to make it feel real even when the plot is doing backflips to keep them apart. It is a relic, for sure. Maybe just leave this one in the archive where it belongs.