I try not to feature Audrey Hepburn in all my movie picks (she's not even my favorite actress), but for all the sub-par movies she made the ones that persist and we watch again and again fit certain moods so perfectly. Roman Holiday for example always feels like a summer movie, alongside Gidget or Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation. It's not that it necessarily takes place in summer, it's that for a brief moment Audrey's character Ann gets to escape from her normal life and go on an adventure--and that is what summer usually represents. A break from normalcy. I mean it starts with her passing out on public benches, cutting off all her hair, and leads Gregory Peck to attempted theft of cameras from school children, driving on the wrong side of the road, starting a bar brawl, and so on. Although shot in black and white and features Audrey in the most prim skirts down to her ankles if there was a song to describe this film it might be Last Friday Night. But don't worry as Ann states herself after their release from the police, "I won't overdo it" and the film is just that--the perfect balance of whimsy and fairytale with real heart and deft acting.
CONVERSATION