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« Tribeca: A Second Look at "Grandma" | Main | A.I. "Robot & Frank" »
Monday
Apr202015

Beauty vs Beast: Full Metal Maria

Tis I, Jason from MNPP, here, with another week's new edition of our "Beauty vs Beast" series. So over the next several days The Film Experience is going to be diving into the cinematic realm of Artificial Intelligence (known as "A.I." to people in a hurry and Haley Joel Osment fans), and to get the ball rolling I figured we'd make ourselves like science-fiction and hop in the way-back machine to the year 1927, when a little chap who went by the name Friedrich Christian Anton Lang, known to his friends as Fritz, made a little movie called Metropolis. In case you don't know the story, it goes like this: Boy meets Girl, Girl Gets Clones Into Evil Robot, Dystopian Nightmare Explodes, and a Kiss, The End. Somewhere in there dancing happens, and it is crazy awesome.

But thanks to a ferocious performance from actress Brigitte Helm you really couldn't get more of a clean split between the two Marias to choose from - Original Maria is all Goodness and Light, while her robot counterpart is Sex and Chaos. But what Sex and Chaos! Where does your heart belong?

Whose team are you on?
Team Maria0%
Team Robot-Maria0%

You have one week to vote!

PREVIOUSLY While I was out of town last week Nathaniel took the chance to sneak a musical (a genre I'm somewhat allergic to) in - can I just tell you that even though I've lusted for The Ten Commandments era Yul Brynner a'plenty I've never seen The King and I? So I'll be damned if I know the right choice for this round, but y'all went with Anna (Deborah Kerr) by only a slight margin (54%). Said Jija:

"I'm maybe biased because I'm Thai but I find Yul's performance ... irritating. I don't expect accurate history or anything. It's a very lovely musical but I can't get past his overacting, silly gestures and ..that accent. He's very cartoonish. Deborah Kerr, on the other hand, is everything."

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Reader Comments (8)

Robot Maria, for the dance scene alone!

April 20, 2015 | Unregistered CommenterGabriel

Robot Maria obviously.

April 20, 2015 | Unregistered CommenterSteven

Robot Maria rocks!

April 20, 2015 | Unregistered CommenterJaragon

This one is a no-brainer. Robot-Maria definitely doesn't do the robot in that dance. One of the most creative, best physical acting ever!

April 20, 2015 | Unregistered CommenterMr.Goodbar

Poor non-robot Maria. She doesn't even come close to having chance...

April 21, 2015 | Unregistered CommenterMrW

I voted for Robot-Maria, but have to salute Brigitte Helm for playing both roles perfectly.

April 21, 2015 | Unregistered CommenterRobMiles

PS. I've done a similar dance in my time!

April 21, 2015 | Unregistered CommenterRobMiles

RobMiles - i heart you.

April 22, 2015 | Registered CommenterNATHANIEL R
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