Ask Mick LaSalle:
Reader says LaSalle has “most incredible memory.”
Dear Magic Memory Mick: You have the most incredible memory for movies both new and old. Knowing that you must see at least five new movies a week, how do you keep everything straight? Do you have to go back and re-watch the 1932 movie you are referencing, or do you just remember most of the details?
Gary Rienzo, Berkeley Dear Magic Memory Gary: Though I’d like to create a myth around myself, my memory for movies isn’t all that amazing. Yes, if I reference a movie from 1932, I know that off the top of my head, but that’s because that period is an area of particular interest. But that makes me the same as most people. I remember what I really like, and I remember the unusual, and I forget what’s typical and repress the unpleasant. I recently watched a bunch of old review segments from when I was on TV in the late 1990s, and I didn’t remember at least twothirds of the films I reviewed back then. Even watching the clips, they were lost to me, including plenty that I liked (but didn’t love). It’s the same with celebrity interviews. I hated doing them — and I don’t mean I disliked doing them; I hated them with a biblical intensity — and so I’ve forgotten them. There are actual celebrities whom I have no recollection of ever meeting, whom I believe I never have met, and then I’ll see evidence that I have. But I do remember the first screening of “Before Sunrise.” I can tell you what the room felt like when “Goodfellas” screened for the first time. I remember the circumstances of getting to the theater on the days I first saw “The New World” and “Inglourious Basterds.” Some days stand out, but most are lost to history. Dear Mick: At the Venice Film Festival, are all films that are made in countries other than Italy subtitled only in Italian? Or at Cannes, are they subtitled only in French?
Jennifer Collins, San Francisco Dear Jennifer: In Venice, Englishlanguage films are subtitled in Italian, Italian films are subtitled in English, and other foreign films are subtitled in both English and Italian. I’m pretty sure in Cannes, they also subtitle everything in English, French or English and French. So if you speak English, you can go to both festivals. Book now. Dear Mick: I wonder how Emma Stone won the Oscar for “La La Land,” when Isabelle Huppert’s performance in “Elle” was remarkable.
Arnie Hoffman, Sunnyvale Dear Arnie: It’s an American award, so it would be extraordinary for a foreigner to come in and win it. It wouldn’t be unprecedented, but unlikely. Also, Stone is under 35, a big advantage in the best actress category. The academy gravitates toward very young best actresses. Dear Mick LaSalle: I am a big fan of “All About Eve.” I wonder to whom you would have given the nod for the 1950 best actress Oscar. The contest was supposedly between ultra-diva performances by Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson, with Judy Holliday being the surprise winner.
Stephen Murray, San Francisco Dear Stephen Murray: I’d give it to Bette Davis, of course. The 1950 best actress race is one of the examples I always go to when wanting to illustrate the academy’s eternal fascination for chameleonic performances and its unwillingness to recognize performances that have the actor’s personality as its foundation. “All About Eve” is really all about Bette Davis, about her stardom, her will, her magnetism, even her preferences in men (she met her future husband, Gary Merrill, when he played her boyfriend in the movie). It’s about the moral proposition that this extraordinary woman presents to the world. It’s a celebration of the actress, of her meaning and her importance, so of course the academy wouldn’t give an Oscar for that. Peers give awards for what they themselves feel that they could someday do — i.e., schtick, or the depiction of a gruesome illness. They do this because peers know: There’s only one Bette Davis, and they’re not it.
Have a question? Ask Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com. Include your name and city for publication, and a phone number for verification. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.