Vice, Virtue. It’s best not to be too moral. You cheat yourself out of too much life. Aim above morality.
No 65 – Harold and Maude Director – Hal Ashby Elliot Biddle has tried to persuade me to watch this film for a while and this always makes me wary. After all, he did the same with Taxidermia , Grave of the Fireflies and A L’ interieur . The first two I found highly traumatic (though Grave of the Fireflies is beautiful in that Ghibli way) and the latter I refuse to see. However, this film was then referenced in the brilliant 30Rock and even the flimsiest of research makes it quite evident that it doesn ’t fall into the ‘bleak and disgusting’ category of films that Elliot so enjoys. The film sets the tone perfectly from the first scene in which Harold meticulously tidies his room, prepares his outfit and hangs himself (reminiscent of the opening scene to Wristcutters : A Love Story ). As his body hangs there his mum walks in, has a phone conversation and tells Harold not to be late for dinner. A fantastically odd opening scene that shows a key point about this film: Whilst it is cert...