This is a lovely and strange film. Despite the confident start, pitching us straight into the relationships of all the main characters with perfect vignettes, I wasn't sure at first; the dialogue seemed to be too scratchy and unsure of itself to go with the film. But that eased off quickly, perhaps just as Fanny and John eased into their relationship, and it just became beautiful. I felt I had to be wary of a film about Art; basically it's a work where poetry, textiles, music and cinematography come together and it is what it's about, and all that, but because it's also about emotion it all just works. It works as a piece about literature - all the repetitions of poetry and the discussions about poetry - and music, the cycles and patterns of counterpoint harmonies - and of course as a work of visual art, like Fanny's clothes. They get more and more beautiful as the film goes by. The film is all about nature and the passing of the seasons; and as spring flowers replace winter drabness so delicate ribbons and lush rich colours replace the odd spiky fashions from the first scenes. Visually it's a treat. Of course - we're so used now to incredibly gorgeous design and photography, it's almost become commonplace, something to be expected in a film of this type. But this is also one of those films that reminds you that you can still appreciate classically composed beauty as if it were 'new'. Like looking at a Turner, maybe.
The emotional core of the film is very powerful, too; I think it's actually quite rare for a film to be as concerned with romantic love, as free to obsess about the tiniest details as the lovers themselves. Because it seems quite long winded and self indulgent (though always riveting). I suppose the only thing I don't quite buy is them reciting his poetry to each other - much as La Belle Dame Sans Merci is practically my favourite poem...
There's also oddness - an amazing, disturbing scene with a room full of exotic butterflies, bringing to life something Fanny and Toots are trying to understand about the growth/evolution and fragility of love, maybe, I don't know. And then they cut through it beautifully by bringing the pet cat (who's a star in his own right, the best sort of purry lap cat) into the scene. I won't go so far as to talk about the emotional resonance of the uncomplicated love a pet cat can bring, because that might just be about me...
The secondary relationships make it come alive, though. Whether it be uncomplicated sibling love for the delightful Toots or the quiet devotion of silent Samuel - especially poignant at the end - or the very complex love that Brown feels for John. Campion handles this very delicately, I thought - it's never made explicit what proportions of it are fraternal love, sexual desire, envy or admiration, but Schneider brings them all to life beautifully. His relationship with Fanny, too, is perfectly drawn - jealousy, this time, rather than envy, and contempt rather than admiration, but the troubling question of desire is clearly something Brown is never going to want to know about, so we aren't going to get an answer either.
Abbie Cornish is fantastic, too. She's stunningly beautiful and a proper real person. At times she looks just like the young Nicole Kidman, and you can see Campion's camera obsessing over her just as it does over Kidman in Portrait of a Lady. I think this film is equally exquisite and wonderful, actually.
This BBC pretend FlashForward thing is a bit rubbish.
A BIT rubbish!
I happened to be monitoring BBC teletext for gambling purposes (a successful night picking draws, as it happens) and 'Paradox' was on...
it was difficult to decide who was acting worse: Tamsin Outtake or the two contrasting 'moody Scots from central casting.' I suppose at least they were contrasting.
The narrative, on the other hand....words fail me.
The worst thing is I know some people will nevertheless watch this next week, at exactly 2100 hours...AND THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT!
The worst thing is I know some people will nevertheless watch this next week, at exactly 2100 hours...AND THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT!
You bastard! You utter bastard! There I was, waiting for Paradox (and its Minority Report rip-off gimmick) to be discussed on this thread so I could nip in with this crack:
The concept of foretelling horrible crimes before they happen is already a reality. The X-Factor is on Saturdays at 8.00 on ITV.
And you had to go and pip me to the frickin' joke! That's it. I'm off for a sulk now.
I'm really getting into this new series Trauma. It's like a glossy American version of Casualty. Look! There's a man up a telegraph pole, it's raining, he's got headphones on and a pair of pliers. Look! Here comes an oil tanker. The driver is texting! And a child on a bicycle is about to appear between two parked cars. The fun is in guessing who will get hurt how. There are a lot of helicopters and guns and tactical SWAT operations, because this is San Francisco and not Holby. But the doctors and nurses and paramedics and their romantic entanglements are just the same.
My mother caught a movie on cable about a month ago and has been talking nonstop about how great it is, so my sisters and I were forced to watch it when visiting for Thanksgiving. It turned out to be one of the worst movies I've ever seen, so I'm warning everyone: avoid Death at a Funeral. Tediously unfunny alleged humor telegraphed way in advance and completely uninteresting characters. The funniest part was when Mom chided us afterward for not having senses of humor.
Anyone watching Lie To Me with Tim Roth? I can't see it getting as big or good as House, but it's got a Criminal Minds appeal that's good enough when there's not much else on. S'alright.
You know what? I didn't mean Criminal Minds. I meant The Mentalist. ie; guy looks at people's faces and tells what they're really up to...and solves a crime. They're quite similar, really. I like 'em both, to my shame.
Cracks This is a strange one. It's complete nonsense from start to finish, but there are moments when a much better, more beautiful film shines through, so I kept revising what I thought about it all the way through. It's a kind of NE England Picnic at Hanging Rock; a boarding school filled with girls at just the right level of chunkiness and frizzy-haired-ness to be unmistakeably English, to serve as contrasts to the beautiful Spanish girl that arrives in their midst and threatens their dreamy fantasy bubble world. Lots of garlands in hair and mooning around reciting poetry and singing Greensleeves. The school seems to have no organisation whatsoever - all the girls do is practise diving under the tutelage of the gorgeous Eva Green, and nurse hopeless crushes on her which she encourages, as the predatory old lesbian that every girls' school has to have on staff by law.
It doesn't really ever attain the hypnotic melancholy or beautiful terror of Picnic, but the girls' isolated world (the school is on an island) does recall something of Weir's (and also Australian-ly it does go a bit Heavenly Creatures at the end, too.)
Once again I have to say that art direction and wardrobe are the most creative and imaginative aspects. Fiamma, the mysterious Spanish girl, arrives in a coat and hat of heartstopping beauty in orangey-pink velvet. You wouldn't have believed it possible. She's got the chestnut hair and the dark eyes and her wardrobe is all in shades of pink and peach to bring that out; conversely, Eva's beautiful eyes and pale skin are always wrapped in the deep blues and sea greens of her clothes and her study.
There are no men in this film. Well, one boatman has one line, but otherwise men are absent, and although the girls talk about boys, and sex, and the outside world, they're cut off from it, they have no sense that they can join it.
It's kind of flawed but interesting. And deeply pervy. The slightly sad looking men on their own in the audience weren't disappointed, I think.
Why do they do that? I mean it can't be rank stupidity or oversight. When I see giveaway trailers I just think "Oh Well, that's another movie I won't be watching." Am I alone and does suspense and curiosity not matter to cinema audiences anymore or what?
It would be a boon if Michael Bay's films were edited down to that kind of length, after all, they're simply extra-long trailers with end credits tagged on.
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