Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Dig - crap British cinema made for a US audience

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    The Dig - crap British cinema made for a US audience

    We watched The Dig at the weekend. Started out promisingly, then turned laughable in that way UK period dramas seem to do in an effort to appeal to the US market's love of British cliches and stereotypes. Big country house - check. Lots of posh people, including closeted gay bloke, and smart woman with career ambitions checked by the chauvinism of the time - check. Annoying precocious kid who can't act for fuck - check. Gruff working class types who occasionally say something profound - check. Thwarted love plot - check. Ultimately consummated love plot - check. And most of all, the Great Awkward British Moment - check several times over. When characters want to or mean to say something to another character, but they're just too jolly awkward and British to say it, so they don't quite manage it, or someone else comes in just at the wrong moment (and somehow, there's never ever a possible right moment in the whole great future ahead of them, at least not until the ultimately consummated love scene), or something drops or explodes or crashes or just happens nearby to distract them. (I know you all love him, but Hugh Grant built his cinematic career around the Great Awkward British Moment).

    Good performance by Ralph Fiennes, I thought. That aside, I'd much rather have watched a decent 60-minute documentary about the dig itself without the banal soap opera.

    #2
    People writing about The Dig using the "Check" device? Check

    https://www.onetouchfootball.com/for...40#post2412640

    Comment


      #3
      LOL. Sorry about that - whenever I try and find something using search, I never get far so I've given up.

      Comment


        #4
        For some reason the title makes me think it ought to be a crap British horror film starring Sean Pertwee and Danny Dyer, rather than a Merchant Ivory type thing.

        Comment


          #5
          I think I could happily watch Ralph Fiennes read a phone book.
          I agree with the thrust of the original post.
          The charms of crap British cinema isn't confined to America alone, my Finnish in-laws watched it not long ago and were completely won over, but aunties aside, I'm glad to say that my wife and mother-in-law were impervious.

          Comment


            #6
            Agree on Fiennes, the day The Dig came out The Guardian did one of their top 20 lists off his performances.

            At the time I'd seen thirteen and enjoyed him in pretty much all of them. I watched The Dig that night and he was by some measure the best thing in it while the article prompted me to finally see A Bigger Splash the next night which he is absolutely phenomenal in (at the 'In Bruges' end of the spectrum of his roles).

            Comment


              #7
              I thought the Dig was fine and I am not naturally a fan of the genre. The young romance seemed shoe-horned in but not too offensively. A very Sunday afternoon film.

              Comment


                #8
                Someone emailed in to Kermode and Mayo to point out someone in the film (set in 1938) is eating lemon drizzle cake, but it probably wasn't invented until 1967 (that's when the recipe was first published anyway).

                Comment


                  #9
                  It was ok, but a documentary would have been better.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I think that, to be fair, most people wouldn't watch a documentary about it but will watch a beautifully shot film with Ralph Feinnes and Lily James in. I stand to be corrected by someone with access to relevant viewing figures. There are lots like that - The Theory Of Everything, The Imitation Game - about much more well-known people.

                    Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post
                    Someone emailed in to Kermode and Mayo to point out someone in the film (set in 1938) is eating lemon drizzle cake, but it probably wasn't invented until 1967 (that's when the recipe was first published anyway).
                    Funnily enough, [spoiler alert/] when the lad had tin foil on, I double checked whether tin foil had been invented. It had [/spoiler alert]

                    Comment


                      #11
                      The only comment I've seen on it apart from this thread is on Paul the pottery expert from Time Team's Twitter. He was really quite upset with them for mangling the facts so much.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        I kept waiting for the moment Rachael Stirling walked in, grabbed a bottle of wine and swore, and left not a little disappointed.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Sam View Post
                          The only comment I've seen on it apart from this thread is on Paul the pottery expert from Time Team's Twitter. He was really quite upset with them for mangling the facts so much.
                          I haven't even looked that up - every time I check the historical truth after seeing a film "based on a true story" then I get thoroughly pissed off. I really should stick to documentaries, but frau imp wanted to see this one, though she admitted afterwards she mainly picks these films just to watch me going off.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            There really is something curious about Brits in Germany and their spouses...

                            Comment


                              #15
                              So tell me, does the nearly 60 year old Fiennes have a romantic moment with the 30 year old lily james, or the 35 year old carey mulligan?

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Originally posted by The Awesome Berbaslug!!! View Post
                                So tell me, does the nearly 60 year old Fiennes have a romantic moment with the 30 year old lily james, or the 35 year old carey mulligan?
                                Neither. Though the character Carey Mulligan is playing is supposed to be the same age as the character he is playing (in the "real" story, anyway)

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by imp View Post
                                  We watched The Dig at the weekend. Started out promisingly, then turned laughable in that way UK period dramas seem to do in an effort to appeal to the US market's love of British cliches and stereotypes. Big country house - check. Lots of posh people, including closeted gay bloke, and smart woman with career ambitions checked by the chauvinism of the time - check. Annoying precocious kid who can't act for fuck - check. Gruff working class types who occasionally say something profound - check. Thwarted love plot - check. Ultimately consummated love plot - check. And most of all, the Great Awkward British Moment - check several times over. When characters want to or mean to say something to another character, but they're just too jolly awkward and British to say it, so they don't quite manage it, or someone else comes in just at the wrong moment (and somehow, there's never ever a possible right moment in the whole great future ahead of them, at least not until the ultimately consummated love scene), or something drops or explodes or crashes or just happens nearby to distract them. (I know you all love him, but Hugh Grant built his cinematic career around the Great Awkward British Moment).
                                  There's some truth there, but it's also a little harsh. While twee-ness is a factor I think US audiences also expect, and generally get, a higher level of performance from British trained actors than they get from Americans. It may not be explicit, or articulated by every viewer, but it absolutely matters. Sure, a good actor, like Fiennes, will bring in an audience based on his name, but his reputation rests on an excellent pedigree. Even lesser known UK actors stand out over here. SB and I were commenting recently on Kelly Reilly's performance in Yellowstone, she's brilliant and — more importantly — she makes other actors in the series better. For example she has lots of scenes with Cole Hauser who plays her love interest. Hauser's got a long resume in Hollywood productions but he's essentially a journeyman however with Reilly he lights up. She, literally, turns him on as an actor. That's a skill and it's worth the price of admission.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    I was struck by Fiennes oo-ar accent in the clips I've seen.
                                    Is it not a distraction? Does it convince?

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      I thought it was pretty convincing given geography and the social class of the character. Can't say I'm a huge expert on the finer nuances of the East Suffolk accent, but it sounded pretty authentic to my ears

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Neither am I but I've seen some plaudits for the accent and discussion of the work he did with a specialist local dialect coach to get it right for the area and era.

                                        Also, Fiennes was actually born and brought up in East Suffolk so will have an ear for it himself.

                                        Comment

                                        Working...
                                        X