Friday, July 3, 2009

Reel Style: Ralph Fiennes in "The Chumscrubber"


I've been watching "The Chumscrubber" on and off recently, as it is one of my favorite
suburbia = dystopia movies. Through my viewings I've come to some conclusions:
1) The film has a pretty impressive music score. James Horner does it and the effect is eerie, like crossing over Danny Elfman with Thomas Newman. Subtle but affecting. I like it.
2) Camilla Belle. You are only 22 and you have already been in films with Daniel Day-Lewis and in this one, Ralph Fiennes. Lucky girl. If only you could act...
3) Ralph is seriously stylish. As usual.

The man exudes classic. Playing the Mayor Michael Ebbs of this little Hillside town, he is wonderfully pressed until the end of the film where he starts to get a little more loose and in tune with his self and ideas. Would I move to a subdivision and abandon all of my principles against being a little Stepford wannabe to catch his eye?

Probably. I have been known to make crazier decisions.



At the beginning, when Ralph is at the wedding dress shop with Tom Hanks' wife Rita Wilson. She's an interior designer in the movie and is getting married to Ralph. Thankfully, she's not a sweetheart that you feel guilty about hating, she's annoying and doesn't seem to know where her kid is half the time. Still want to get married Ralph?
The blue shirt here goes with a later scene when he's walking past a blue wall with dolphins painted on. The shade is so calming and peaceful, serene.



The yellow shirt! This shirt goes through hell, from diving into a pool and being paint splattered but in its earliest incarnation, we see it perfectly polished and crisp. I have a great fondness for men who wear pink, white, and yellow dress shirts because aside from looking like Easter, it is daring for a man to step outside of the "gray, blue, navy" color zone. Ralph rocks this shirt. Bonus points for being super aloof while Rita prattles on. He's so damn cool, he's above listening to whatever his future wife has to say to her girlfriend. No chiming in, no feigning interest. Just doing his own thing.



The shirt gets a little blue. By all the laws of coloring that we learned as kids, wouldn't that create a few green spots? No of course not, because this is material and one shade of paint. Still, I think if the filmmakers did green it up a little, it would be acceptable. This is another little realm in the world where dolphins, hallucinations, and pills called VeggieForce are the norm.



Wedding Day and that annoying brat Billy has been stabbed in the eye by Ralph's future son, Charlie. Everyone stops what they're doing to go outside and watch the kid stumble blindly around until a cop hits him with his car. Ralph and Rita aren't getting married (that cop has the hots for Rita) but at least Ralph is looking all rumpled up and casual while remaining still utterly beautiful.



End outfit with a fun floral patterned white shirt. Ralph is forfitting the office for a life of the artiste, talking about his paintings of dolphins and hooking up with Camilla Belle's mom.
Seriously, not since Jude Law rocked a pink dress shirt in Alfie have I seen a man wear so many of these crisp shirts and look like perfection.

Okay, writing this made me feel bad for still not renting The Reader. I think I'll do that tomorrow.

Love to you all,
Heather

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