Model Shop (1969)

Model Shop (1969) Director: Jacques Demy Watched: May 2018 Rating: 5/10 An "A" for effort, Proves Demy should stick with French, Not co-writing this. George refuses work, Loves a girl he hardly knows, Fears the draft and death? Abysmal acting, Especially Hays who has No language excuse! Aimée plays "Lola", With far less dazzle this time, Though still beautiful. Props for nostalgic L.A., "Spirit" band, life insight quotes. #HaikuSonnet #PoemReview #French ---- Haiku Sonnets are comprised of 4 3-line haiku plus a couplet of either 5 or 7 syllables, totaling 14 lines, the same number of lines found in a sonnet. (5-7-5, 5-7-5, 5-7-5, 5-7-5, 7-7/5-5) The perfect pairing of Asian and Western poetry?

****SPOILERS****Gary Lockwood is 26 year old George Matthews a good for nothing moocher living off his girlfriend Gloria's, Alexandra Hay, money as he screws himself up royally getting into debt as well as waiting for his dreaded draft notice calling him to serve his country in the Vietnam War. Going through life as a dead beat after spending seven years studying architecture, he must have been left back at least twice, in collage he refuses to get a job and spends his time drinking smoking joints and leaching off his friends & family. It's on a sunny day in L.A while looking to grub off some money-$100.00- from his friend , whom he already owes $50.00, parking attendant Gerry, Tom Holland,to keep his 1952 vintage jalopy from being repressed for being three months behind in payments from him George spots the Jackie Kennedy look alike Lola, Anouk "Nookie" Almee, parking her late model car and in thinking that she's rolling in dough makes a play for her. As it soon turns out Lola is like him on the balls of her a** barley paying her bills as a model by posing for girly pictures and looking to make just enough money to buy for a plane ticket back to her home and 14 year old son in Paris France. Soon George falls madly in love with Lola even though she's broke and wants to start up a relation with her thus leaving his old and much younger girlfriend Gloria out in the cold. As things transpire it's Lola who takes advantage of the love sick George not the other way around first using and later dropping him like a hot potato, after a hot night of non-stop action, and leaving for Paris with the money, his last red cent, that he gave her. ****SPOILERS**** The worst by far is yet to come for George when he's contacted by his dad back in San Francisco telling him the shocking news! In that he's been informed by his draft board that he's now classified 1A and ready to go to serve his country in the steaming jungles of South Vietnam fighting the Communist Vietcong & North Veitnames regular army troops! It was a fitting ending for George who not only screwed himself up but all those who loved and believed in him and even he knew it. With both Gloria and Lola gone and not having anyone to leach off, all his friends by now deserted him, he also loses his car that he hasn't paid the bills for and, with no transportation to leave town, left to his fate. Only hoping that his time the US Army, if he survives, will give him the courage discipline and responsibly that he so badly lacked in civilian life!

Distinguished French New Wave writer-director Jacques Demy's first American film, 'Model Shop', is a belated sequel to 'Lola', his 1961 directorial debut. Both films feature Anouk Aimée as Lola, the sexy, somewhat mysterious love interest. In the earlier film Lola is a French "cabaret dancer" (prostitute) pursued by three romantic rivals. In the latter film Lola, now approaching middle age, works in a Los Angeles "model shop," i.e., a quasi-pornographic establishment that rents out cameras and beautiful pin-up models to amateur photographers. This time around Lola has only one ardent suitor: George Matthews (Gary Lockwood), a 26-year-old unemployed architect with a dimwitted 22-year-old girlfriend named Gloria (Alexandra Hay), a beloved Triumph TR3 about to be repossessed, and a newly arrived draft notice that might send him to Vietnam. After spotting Lola in traffic the usually blasé George is instantly smitten. He follows her back to the model shop and spends his last twelve dollars photographing her—and becoming more intensely infatuated. Lola submits to a one-night stand with George but will not allow the relationship to deepen: she only wants to return to her 14- year-old son in France as soon as she can afford the airfare. A desultory day-in-the-life saga, Model Shop beautifully evokes draft-era existential insecurity—and the desolate urban sprawl that is modern Los Angeles. The California rock band, Spirit, supplies the music. Trivia: Jacques Demy wanted Harrison Ford to play George Matthews but Columbia opted for Gary Lockwood, because of his starring role in Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968) he was a much more famous actor at the time. More trivia: Fred Willard has an uncredited cameo as a gas station attendant. Further trivia: In 2005 Sundazed Records released Spirit's previously unreleased soundtrack album, 'Model Shop'. The film was a commercial failure. DVD (Region 2 – France; 2008); DVD (2009).

This is a bad film, French New Wave or not. While I don't love this type of movie, even as an example of the genre, it's bad. French Writer/Director Jacques Demy (who I have loved in several of his other films) makes a mostly aimless film about a guy who has the personality of a paper towel...and it's all set in America. The guy is Gary Lockwood and I felt a bit sorry for him in the movie as he really had very little to do except exist as well as do things that rarely made sense. Emoting in any way certainly was NOT in the cards for this guy!The film begins with Lockwood in bed with his girlfriend (who, coincidentally, has almost no personality either). There's a knock at the door as finance company guys are about to repossess his car. He gets them to agree to wait until the end of the day and Lockwood spends much of the beginning of the film visiting various acquaintances trying to bum money from them. Finally, he finds a soft touch and gets the $100 he needs, but ends up spending it on a woman he just saw as he was driving down the street (Anouk Aimée) who poses for perverts who pay her to strip. And, as a result, he can't pay for the car. I assume this is supposed to be romantic, but the guy just comes off as a leeching idiot. Plus, when he announces that he loves her even though he doesn't even know her, he seems like a real creeper! The film bears some similarities to the famous "Breathless" ("À bout de soufflé"), though unlike Jean-Paul Belmondo (who also plays a low-life), Lockwood's character has no personality and is very, very stiff (in a bad way). At least with Belmondo, he had style and a certain rogue-ish charm. But watching a similar style film with none of the positive qualities of the Godard/Truffaut film, it's a real chore to endure. And, with a plot that seems a bit recycled, the New Wave novelty can't even be respected.A dull and unconvincing film, it didn't even benefit from being bad. If it been terrible and not dull, this would have been an improvement--at least with terrible you can watch it for a laugh!