Tom and the fellas

What did you think of Tom? I alternated between liking him somewhat (as in "oh brother, what will he say next?") and dismissing him as a selfish egoist. The fact that he didn't have much feeling for Audrey until he discovered that she wanted to preserve his letters for posterity said a lot about him. Clearly, the way to his heart was through his vanity.

Which of the male characters most intrigued you? Tom the intellectual of limited resources; Nick the cynical man about town; Charlie the self-important man of sincerity; or Fred the sleepy alcoholic (I loved the scene where he was dozing in the chair but got excited when he heard the cha-cha music).

Jane Austen takes Manhattan

What do you think is the significance of all the Jane Austen references in "Metropolitan," particularly the ones to her novel "Mansfield Park," where much is made of young wealthy people putting on a play. And don't forget the Austenesque "virtuous heroine." Does our movie have a "virtuous heroine"? Is it an Austenesque satire of the upper crust or something else?

Urban Haute Bourgeoisie (Metropolitan)

“UHB” is a delightful coinage. One thing I liked about this movie is how in the frequent discussions of the failure of the UHB, it was always assumed by everyone that the UHB were going to fail as if it was so obvious that you wouldn’t bother to question. Now the old WASP ascendancy had been losing its position for decades, but does that translate into almost certain failure for each and every young UHB? Does this peculiar conceit play an important role in the movie? Does one of the reasons that the movie has such a charmingly light tone come from the acceptance without gloom of these youth that they are doomed?

Are You a Public Transportation Snob?

Well, “Metropolitan” does live up to my memory of it and it is better than “Barcelona”. One thing that impressed me was not just the high quality of the dialog, but that they could pull off such improbable conversations. I had forgotten that Tom was a Fourierist and that there was another kid in the group who also knew about Fourier. That is a completely improbable event, but in this movie, that didn’t matter.

Let this first thread be the what-stood-out-for-you thread.

Metropolitan

For an interim movie, I wanted something a bit lighter than Cassavetes. When my parents were out here last summer we watched a couple of movies one of which was Whit Stillman’s “Barcelona”. I liked it but remember thinking at the time that his other film, “Metropolitan” was better. Time to find out.

This one is on Netflix and might even be in your local rental. I’ll start a thread or two over the weekend and everyone can jump in when they get the chance.