Mario Dhingsa's Blog - Posts Tagged "the-lost-weekend"

#SilverScreenBlack: 'The Lost Weekend' (1945)

(96 mins)

Mario's rating: 4.5/5 (natch)

Whisky Galore: An alcoholic tries quenching the unquenchable, and breaks beneath the unbreakable.

👍 Bottle full: Ray Milland's portrayal of a heavy drinker, who goes from deceit, panic, mania, malevolence, confidence, calm and bliss; and back again. Frank Faylen likewise shines as the cynical, smiling hospital orderly, who has heard every lie, and has sat through every scream.

👎 Bottle empty: The film won four Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay) and co-won the Grand Prix at Cannes, but is largely forgotten. Only 'Marty' (1955) and last year's 'Parasite' have since won both Best Picture and the Grand Prix.

📽️ Favourite scene: The NYC alcoholic ward, where Milland sees how many are like him, and for how many decades they've been trapped.

🥇 Best quote: "I'm not a drinker. I'm a drunk. The reason is me, what I am. Or rather, what I'm not. What I wanted to become but didn't."

🙁 Best depressing quote: "You know, once I even got myself a gun and some bullets. I was going to do it on my 30th birthday. Here are the bullets. The gun went for three quarts of whisky. The flop suicide of a flop writer."

🍊 Best Trump quote:
"I've never done anything! I'm not doing anything! I never will do anything! Zero, zero, zero!"