Now that's a visceral experience.
I enjoyed 127 Hours. It had a lot going for it. But ultimately it was saying relatively little exceptionally well.
This is a story which throws all the cinematic tricks at you, which makes you follow intensely a character who is in nearly every shot of the movie, who makes you come out feeling as if you've just been through the whole ordeal she has. But also feels as if it will stay with you, because it was about something.
What is that something: obsession, discipline, repression. The ability of your self to put you through intense pain.
That sentence should be the other way round but it feels right that way. I'll try and have a think why that is.
I've just watched this film. Came out pumped, playing The National full blast and going through a buzzing Friday night in Soho as if the people weren't really there.
Although half of me was worried that they were looking me. I felt slightly out of control. A little like Nina in this film.
And it took me almost all the way back to calm down.
It's a film that spends a lot of time looking at pain. The first act feels quite a lot like The Wrestler. The same obsession with bodies which are simultaneously being worshiped and destroyed. That sense that if your body is the vehicle for what you want to do then you make it suffer. You're both completely dependent on your body and yet strangely divorced from it. Able to bring pain upon it so that it does what you want it to do.
But while for Mickey Rourke's character it was only the body that suffered that kind of concerted pain (his mind was taking plenty of hits but not in a controlled or entirely self-inflicted way), Natalie Portman's character is doing the same thing to mind.
I'm not going to give spoilers although to be honest I'm not sure there's much that's not revealed by the trailer. The trailer suggests it's a horror film but while it is undoubtedly horrific in places you realise early on that this is a film in which what she is doing to herself is far more metaphorical. The confusion lies in that, like her, you are unable to distinguish between what is definitely real and what could be but might not be.
After a Red Shoes esque opening with ballet dancers becoming their characters, it takes a surprisingly gritty turn. The handheld cameras, slightly scratchy sound and dull colours of her world with her mum surprised me after the high style of the trailer and I liked it. For a film that is in many ways about suffocation, it lets you breathe at the beginning.
And from that you get a good sense of her character. What's wrong with her is explained quite explicitly by her maestro Vincent Cassel. Her pursuit of perfect technique has left her frigid, solitary, awkward in company. She can play virginial better than anyone else. But she cannot also be sensual, seductive.
We see why. She has an obsessive single mum who feels that she never got to be a great ballerina because she got pregnant and is determined to see her little girl go one better. That means early nights and hard work. But it also most definitely means remaining a little girl. No sex. Just being tucked in in a room full of fluffy teddies. Pinks and whites. Nothing black.
Setting up so heavily the motif of black vs white makes your set design easier. Vincent Cassel's flat is laughable in its obsession with this. But it's a simple effective way of building the idea and letting us know whether Nina is turning black or staying white.
I have a feeling that there are no black faces in this film. There are certainly none among the cast of the ballet. I imagine that's reasonably accurate of the ballet world, moreover I think putting Natalie Portman up against a black character, even a small one, would have distracted it from its motif. It would have complicated the dynamics in a way that would have taken us out of Natalie Portman's increasingly crazed head.
I feel like there's lots more to say but I want to say just two things. Firstly Mila Kunis is very good in a role that I think gets under noticed. She plays two roles really, she's half of Nina's black swan. And she's a girl called Lily. And it's as Lily that I think she does something very important. In a very stylised flick, she plays normal in a way that both feels it but doesn't interrupt the feel of the film. The fact that everytime we see her we're not quite sure whether she is the relatively normal Lily or the black swan helps to keep that edge. But I think it's hard to give off the warmth she does in a film like this and remain likeable. I think it's exactly the kind of performance that makes a film and never gets noticed. It's not as exceptional a piece of work as Natalie Portman's and doesn't the deserve the massive acclaim that Natalie's correctly picking up. But it's the kind of role that makes sure a movie is more than just an actress's tour de force.
Secondly, there's a sex scene in her which really feels dynamic, erotic and absolutely part of it. You don't get many of them. Broadband and the total accessibility of porn has killed off the token soft core scene to fill out a movie but in a way I hoped it would make sex scenes work better because they're no longer partly as use as porn. They can be more erotic than that. Here it works and it works because it's happening to a character's whose head you're inhabiting.
Final note, I watched it in a freezing cinema, (i'm still really freezing) and with a desperate need to go to the toilet through most of it. I think that added to the experience as it made me feel suitably on edge. Also I can't imagine seeing this on a small screen, not least for the surround sound. There are a couple times when it feels like Vincent Cassell is talking behind you and I nearly looked round for his approval. This film really got under my skin.
Friday, 28 January 2011
127 Hours
So a new year. A new attempt at blogging. I'm going to try and review films I see in the cinema but not bother with others to make it more manageable.
127 hours made me think of the Social Network. Both of them have brilliant and i think not sufficiently remarked upon performances which capture brilliant young men and the emotional limits that tend to come with Being one of them.
More importantly make fine, watchable films out of not particularly obvious cinematic ideas. As Simon Beaufoy said in the creative screenwriting magazine interview, 'It's one guy, down a canyon, on his own and he doesn't move. Great cinema.'
And it is. From the exhilarating dynamism of the short first act, through the brilliant first day of him trying to figure out what he'a going to do, the interview where he cracks up pretending to be a chatshow host to the extraordinary scene where he takes the knife to his arm, it is great cinema. I can't imagine being half as effective on the small screen.
It is what I think of as experience cinema. Other good examples include United 93 and Hunger (maybe it should be considered a British specialist genre). There is a conscious effort to try and make you understand what the people on screen are going through. I guess it's kind of a highbrow version of horror. The point is that the glory of it is in its viscerality rather than the scope of the tale or the acuteness of the observations of humanity. It tells us as much about ourselves as any of those would.
But it does it in a way that is definitely cinematic. I consider Hunger and United 93 two of the best films of the last decade but I'm not sure I'd think it if I'd seen them on DVD. They look amazing, mesmerising with strong visuals that require the darkness of a room that gives you nothing else to look at.
And I think crucially it requires surround sound. The sound editing is extraordinary particularly at the end. It fools you into thinking you're seeing things you're not and mean even as you look at away, you're still there, feeling, experiencing.
It has a hallucinatory quality and not all of the 2nd act quite gets you over the fact nothing's happening but it's taken you along far enough that you feel the beats with him. You need to dream and think of other place when he does. You get scared by his hallucinations. And when he gets to cutting, you're ready in the same way he is. Yes it's going to be excruciating but it's time for a heave.
That's not to say watching it is equivalent to cutting your arm off but you follow his emotions well. And like him, when he comes free, you feel in shock.
like social network I'm in awe of the people who made it and remember more than I normally do of a film. And yet, it doesn't really really resonate. There's a tiny bit of 'that was interesting'. Hell of a thing to say about two young men who made a billion and a social phenomenon on the one hand and cut off the other hand. But there you go. I don't think i'm alone in thinking it.
127 hours made me think of the Social Network. Both of them have brilliant and i think not sufficiently remarked upon performances which capture brilliant young men and the emotional limits that tend to come with Being one of them.
More importantly make fine, watchable films out of not particularly obvious cinematic ideas. As Simon Beaufoy said in the creative screenwriting magazine interview, 'It's one guy, down a canyon, on his own and he doesn't move. Great cinema.'
And it is. From the exhilarating dynamism of the short first act, through the brilliant first day of him trying to figure out what he'a going to do, the interview where he cracks up pretending to be a chatshow host to the extraordinary scene where he takes the knife to his arm, it is great cinema. I can't imagine being half as effective on the small screen.
It is what I think of as experience cinema. Other good examples include United 93 and Hunger (maybe it should be considered a British specialist genre). There is a conscious effort to try and make you understand what the people on screen are going through. I guess it's kind of a highbrow version of horror. The point is that the glory of it is in its viscerality rather than the scope of the tale or the acuteness of the observations of humanity. It tells us as much about ourselves as any of those would.
But it does it in a way that is definitely cinematic. I consider Hunger and United 93 two of the best films of the last decade but I'm not sure I'd think it if I'd seen them on DVD. They look amazing, mesmerising with strong visuals that require the darkness of a room that gives you nothing else to look at.
And I think crucially it requires surround sound. The sound editing is extraordinary particularly at the end. It fools you into thinking you're seeing things you're not and mean even as you look at away, you're still there, feeling, experiencing.
It has a hallucinatory quality and not all of the 2nd act quite gets you over the fact nothing's happening but it's taken you along far enough that you feel the beats with him. You need to dream and think of other place when he does. You get scared by his hallucinations. And when he gets to cutting, you're ready in the same way he is. Yes it's going to be excruciating but it's time for a heave.
That's not to say watching it is equivalent to cutting your arm off but you follow his emotions well. And like him, when he comes free, you feel in shock.
like social network I'm in awe of the people who made it and remember more than I normally do of a film. And yet, it doesn't really really resonate. There's a tiny bit of 'that was interesting'. Hell of a thing to say about two young men who made a billion and a social phenomenon on the one hand and cut off the other hand. But there you go. I don't think i'm alone in thinking it.
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Extraordinary how potent cheap music is
In Private Lives, Amanda says the quote above. I'm slightly disappointed to discover that. I thought it was something Noel Coward actually had the guts to admit himself, rather than hide it in a character. Because I think it's a truth that even an exceptional caustic wit who would go on to conjure up the distinctly uncheap emotions of Brief Encounter had to admit.
I've just watched Music and Lyrics. It's a highly silly film. It can be sloppy at times (Drew Barrymore is set up in her first scene as a hypochondriac but then that never comes up again or indeed fits with her character). It does not work hard for any emotion it gets. But it gets them anyway. I really enjoyed myself. I laughed out loud regularly despite being on my own, I bopped a little when the pop songs came on and when the denouement came I didn't quite well up but there was undeniably something (I feel like the appropriate continuation that metaphor would be a slight swelling but that would give the wrong impression.)
It is an extraordinarily potent piece of cheap film. With a multi million pound budget, two of the best stars in the business at these kind of roles, and a script I don't doubt Marc Lawrence worked very hard at it for a long time. Because just as good pop songs are done by great craftsman so are great rom-coms. And what this one did to me was reaffirm that it's what I want to do. They may not always be quite as fluffy as this one but basically that's where I'm headed. I enjoy them. I value them. I respect them. And I want to make them.
And I accept that means a lot more work on my part. This is a craft I'm choosing. It will take careful readings of what works, what doesn't and what makes it stand out. It also reminds me that a little romance and saccharine does a wonderful job of bringing through a 3rd act which is threatening to veer off into drama. Now back to the 2nd draft.
I've just watched Music and Lyrics. It's a highly silly film. It can be sloppy at times (Drew Barrymore is set up in her first scene as a hypochondriac but then that never comes up again or indeed fits with her character). It does not work hard for any emotion it gets. But it gets them anyway. I really enjoyed myself. I laughed out loud regularly despite being on my own, I bopped a little when the pop songs came on and when the denouement came I didn't quite well up but there was undeniably something (I feel like the appropriate continuation that metaphor would be a slight swelling but that would give the wrong impression.)
It is an extraordinarily potent piece of cheap film. With a multi million pound budget, two of the best stars in the business at these kind of roles, and a script I don't doubt Marc Lawrence worked very hard at it for a long time. Because just as good pop songs are done by great craftsman so are great rom-coms. And what this one did to me was reaffirm that it's what I want to do. They may not always be quite as fluffy as this one but basically that's where I'm headed. I enjoy them. I value them. I respect them. And I want to make them.
And I accept that means a lot more work on my part. This is a craft I'm choosing. It will take careful readings of what works, what doesn't and what makes it stand out. It also reminds me that a little romance and saccharine does a wonderful job of bringing through a 3rd act which is threatening to veer off into drama. Now back to the 2nd draft.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Conversationing
Hello,
I realise I haven't actually put up anything about Conversationing, the short film we got Southern Exposure funding to make earlier this year.
A taster link is here:
http://vimeo.com/16221983
And as a bit more of a taster- this is the first 2 pages (apologies for the slightly wonky formatting):
1
EXT. PARK-DAY
JACK, 25, is on a park bench. It’s sunny but still a little cold to be out for lunch. He hunches over as he eats his crisps and regrets thinking a breath of fresh air was what he needed.
JILL, 27 with sharp eyes and a distinctive haircut, comes over and sits on the other side of the bench. Jack budges over to give her space. She smiles a thank-you and pulls out a packet of cigarettes.
They sit there in silence but stoically avoiding making eye contact, staring out into the space in front of them.
Suddenly Jill turns to Jack.
Jill nods. This was what she expected.
Jack doesn’t say anything. Then he turns to her.
JILL
No thanks. Would you like a cigarette?
JACK
No, thank-you.
JILL
You don’t smoke?
Jack shakes his head.
Jack thinks about this and then offers her a crisp again. She smiles but mouths ‘NO THANK-YOU’.
Jack nods.
I realise I haven't actually put up anything about Conversationing, the short film we got Southern Exposure funding to make earlier this year.
A taster link is here:
http://vimeo.com/16221983
And as a bit more of a taster- this is the first 2 pages (apologies for the slightly wonky formatting):
1
EXT. PARK-DAY
JACK, 25, is on a park bench. It’s sunny but still a little cold to be out for lunch. He hunches over as he eats his crisps and regrets thinking a breath of fresh air was what he needed.
JILL, 27 with sharp eyes and a distinctive haircut, comes over and sits on the other side of the bench. Jack budges over to give her space. She smiles a thank-you and pulls out a packet of cigarettes.
They sit there in silence but stoically avoiding making eye contact, staring out into the space in front of them.
Suddenly Jill turns to Jack.
JILL
I’m no good at talking to strangers.
Jack is completely bemused by this comment but eventually replies.I’m no good at talking to strangers.
JACK
Me neither.
Jill nods. This was what she expected.
JILL
I just don’t know how to start.
I just don’t know how to start.
Jack doesn’t say anything. Then he turns to her.
JACK
Would you like a crisp?
Would you like a crisp?
JILL
No thanks. Would you like a cigarette?
JACK
No, thank-you.
JILL
You don’t smoke?
JILL
I ask because there’s some weird rule whereby,
even though someone’s offered you something,
if you don’t know them, you feel rude taking it.
I ask because there’s some weird rule whereby,
even though someone’s offered you something,
if you don’t know them, you feel rude taking it.
Jack thinks about this and then offers her a crisp again. She smiles but mouths ‘NO THANK-YOU’.
JILL
Do you need to be alone right
now?
JACK
I’m sorry?
JILL
Are you enjoying a bit of time to
yourself? Not having to interact.
JACK
I don’t mind it.
JILL
But, if a friend walked around
the corner right now, would you
want to talk to them?
Jack thinks about this.Do you need to be alone right
now?
JACK
I’m sorry?
JILL
Are you enjoying a bit of time to
yourself? Not having to interact.
JACK
I don’t mind it.
JILL
But, if a friend walked around
the corner right now, would you
want to talk to them?
JACK
Yes.
JILL
Because right now, you’d be happy
to have a good conversation?
Jack nods.
JILL
The frustrating thing is that I know there’s
something we could have a really good
conversation about. Some way we could spend
the next five minutes which would be so
much better then just awkwardly ignoring
each other. But we’re just going to stare in
silence because we don’t know what that
thing we have in common is?
Jack eats a crisp as slowly as he can as the silence descends again. Then Jack turns to Jill for the first time.Yes.
JILL
Because right now, you’d be happy
to have a good conversation?
Jack nods.
The frustrating thing is that I know there’s
something we could have a really good
conversation about. Some way we could spend
the next five minutes which would be so
much better then just awkwardly ignoring
each other. But we’re just going to stare in
silence because we don’t know what that
thing we have in common is?
JACK
I’m going to a gig this evening.
JILL
A music gig?
I’m going to a gig this evening.
JILL
A music gig?
Jack nods.
JILL
I never really go to music gigs.
If you'd like to read the script or see the film (13 mins) get in touch and I'll send you a copy/link.
I never really go to music gigs.
If you'd like to read the script or see the film (13 mins) get in touch and I'll send you a copy/link.
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Encounters at the End of the World
Getting through the backlog is going to require more effort than I realised, especially if I keep watching new ones. So, to try and keep on top of the fresh ones here is Encounters at the End of the World.
I had a choice between two films courtesy of Love film. Encounters at the end of the world and Let the right one in. I've heard so many good things about let the right one in that I decided not to watch it because I was a bit tired and more importantly I thought my flatmates might appear two thirds of the way through and ruin the atmosphere.
Which doesn't say much about my expectations of Encounters at the End of the World. But I was right in the sense that it is sufficently episodic that an interruption halfway through wouldn't have changed much.
It's a great concept for a film. Herzog, that obsessive recorder of obsessives, has found his natural home. As one of those interviewed says, Antarctica is where those without anything holding them down drop to. Where those with a true wanderlust find themselves. There are people working there who have travelled between Peru and Ecuador in a sewage pipe (which was on the back of a lorry it turns out, which was a bit disappointing but still pretty good).
Herzog makes the not unreasonable guess that a place like this is going to be full of stories. That in the frontier like town some of humanity's most interesting specimans will be found. Having said that he doesn't seem that interested in them. He moans about the lack of charm in a settlement of prefabs and diggers. About a strictly run establishment where they have to do a two day survival course to be allowed out. There's one scene which shows the unlikely entertainment that occurs when this curious group let off steam but generally he can't wait to get out there. The settlement reeks of civilisation too much.
And he's right the truly magnificent parts of this film involve diving under the ice: The cosmic sounds of the seals, the extraordinary vista of a frozen ceiling to the sea and the descriptions and images of the creatures that live in the deep. There's an exhibition at the Natural History Museum which I'm desperate to see now before it ends. It's a truly magnificent world.
Add to that icebergs with so much water they could keep the River Jordan running for a 1000 years, 1 cell organisms which exhibit signs of intelligence, volcanoes which go straight down into the magma of the earth's core and penguins who run madly for the mountains far from the sea and their companions destined to drop down dead long before they get there, and you can see why he was desperate to get out there.
Given this I think he should have set it up more in two bits. First bit the humans who would think of coming to such a place. Second bit the place itself and why it endlessly fascinates those who have seen so much of the world already. It feels choppy, like he hasn't got a handle on what brings it together. Maybe there isn't anything. There is little that can connect it but without that it's possible to lose concentration even when you see all the things I've described. He's not helped by so many people who while theoretically fascinating are not actually engaging people- not surprising really, you don't travel to Antarctica to engage your easy charm.
I wish I'd seen it on the big screen and I long to see more images of the sea with the ice ceiling but I can't help feeling that somehow Herzog didn't know what to do with the extraordinary material he was sitting on.
I had a choice between two films courtesy of Love film. Encounters at the end of the world and Let the right one in. I've heard so many good things about let the right one in that I decided not to watch it because I was a bit tired and more importantly I thought my flatmates might appear two thirds of the way through and ruin the atmosphere.
Which doesn't say much about my expectations of Encounters at the End of the World. But I was right in the sense that it is sufficently episodic that an interruption halfway through wouldn't have changed much.
It's a great concept for a film. Herzog, that obsessive recorder of obsessives, has found his natural home. As one of those interviewed says, Antarctica is where those without anything holding them down drop to. Where those with a true wanderlust find themselves. There are people working there who have travelled between Peru and Ecuador in a sewage pipe (which was on the back of a lorry it turns out, which was a bit disappointing but still pretty good).
Herzog makes the not unreasonable guess that a place like this is going to be full of stories. That in the frontier like town some of humanity's most interesting specimans will be found. Having said that he doesn't seem that interested in them. He moans about the lack of charm in a settlement of prefabs and diggers. About a strictly run establishment where they have to do a two day survival course to be allowed out. There's one scene which shows the unlikely entertainment that occurs when this curious group let off steam but generally he can't wait to get out there. The settlement reeks of civilisation too much.
And he's right the truly magnificent parts of this film involve diving under the ice: The cosmic sounds of the seals, the extraordinary vista of a frozen ceiling to the sea and the descriptions and images of the creatures that live in the deep. There's an exhibition at the Natural History Museum which I'm desperate to see now before it ends. It's a truly magnificent world.
Add to that icebergs with so much water they could keep the River Jordan running for a 1000 years, 1 cell organisms which exhibit signs of intelligence, volcanoes which go straight down into the magma of the earth's core and penguins who run madly for the mountains far from the sea and their companions destined to drop down dead long before they get there, and you can see why he was desperate to get out there.
Given this I think he should have set it up more in two bits. First bit the humans who would think of coming to such a place. Second bit the place itself and why it endlessly fascinates those who have seen so much of the world already. It feels choppy, like he hasn't got a handle on what brings it together. Maybe there isn't anything. There is little that can connect it but without that it's possible to lose concentration even when you see all the things I've described. He's not helped by so many people who while theoretically fascinating are not actually engaging people- not surprising really, you don't travel to Antarctica to engage your easy charm.
I wish I'd seen it on the big screen and I long to see more images of the sea with the ice ceiling but I can't help feeling that somehow Herzog didn't know what to do with the extraordinary material he was sitting on.
Thursday, 26 August 2010
The Illusionist
My goodness I've got a lot of films to write about. These are going to be short and snappy and proof positive about how I need to write these things nearer to the event for them to have meaning. But hey ho.
The Illusionist was a film that hadn't entered my consciousness. I'd seen an article about it which I thought was saying that it was on in Edinburgh at the moment. A minor mental note to look out for it but presuming it wasn't out and not that excited.
And then I found myself in the cinema, knackered, meeting a friend to watch The Secrets in their Eyes in a couple hours and it was about to start. I thought watch this now and enjoy it or try and stay awake through the heavier film and not got to sleep. It was a mistake. Not least because I failed to get the sleep I was aiming for. And that probably colours my view of a film that has much going through it.
It's by the Belleville guy and carries much of the charm and beauty of that. But while I don't remember Belleville very much anymore I remember thinking it had a decent pace. The Illusionist is stately. Which makes sense when you're dealing with loneliness. You can't be busy and notice that you're lonely. You can be aware of it and have it lurking, ready to strike when you stop, making your determined not to. But for an audience loneliness needs quiet but even more than that it needs slowness (I feel there's another word an articulate person would use but it's not coming). It needs an audience to have the space to reflect on what they're seeing. The question isn't 'what happens next', it's 'what is he feeling'. It's a hard trick. And I don't know it always pulls it off.
So the good, it's beautiful. All of it but especially Edinburgh. I've been to Edinburgh twice in my life but it was amazing how much the images evoked it (it also fitted in beautifully with One Day which I was reading at the time) and made me feel as if it was somewhere I really knew.
It's a great world. The end of vaudueville. The guy is an incredible illusionist. Just a genius. But he lacks panache, showmanship and he's just not interesting when there are heartthrob rock bands to get the girls throwing knickers at. And he's not alone. There are clowns and ventriloquists and acrobats. And they're all suffering. The acrobats survive a bit more. Partly because they're a team. But the clown and the ventriloquist are broken men.
As is the Illusionist but for a little while he has a companion. A hopelessly naive young girl who believes he actually is a magician. And expects shoes and coats to be magiced up for her. I get the idea that a lonely man would indulge this emotion to have someone in their life. And I get the idea of wanting to have a daughter to indulge. But nonetheless I could never quite take it. The girl isn't charmingly naive. She's not interested in the man treating her. And she's staggeringly materialistic. I can't take interest in someone who on discovering a magical father figure just want to find a nice dress so she can find a nice man. It feels like such a lack of both imagination and soul.
And because I can't like her, I can't really like it. But it sticks. It does. The bad tricks. The vistas. The essential toughness of a man who has so little going for him but keeps at it. Fail again. Fail better.
So don't go in expecting Belleville. Don't go in expecting to come out laughing and skipping. But there is beauty and humour in this and I have this feeling of finding myself at 50 watching again and it hitting a chord it can't quite on a lucky 20 something who doesn't feel alone that often. Well, not lonely at least. Or more accurately hasn't this week.
The Illusionist was a film that hadn't entered my consciousness. I'd seen an article about it which I thought was saying that it was on in Edinburgh at the moment. A minor mental note to look out for it but presuming it wasn't out and not that excited.
And then I found myself in the cinema, knackered, meeting a friend to watch The Secrets in their Eyes in a couple hours and it was about to start. I thought watch this now and enjoy it or try and stay awake through the heavier film and not got to sleep. It was a mistake. Not least because I failed to get the sleep I was aiming for. And that probably colours my view of a film that has much going through it.
It's by the Belleville guy and carries much of the charm and beauty of that. But while I don't remember Belleville very much anymore I remember thinking it had a decent pace. The Illusionist is stately. Which makes sense when you're dealing with loneliness. You can't be busy and notice that you're lonely. You can be aware of it and have it lurking, ready to strike when you stop, making your determined not to. But for an audience loneliness needs quiet but even more than that it needs slowness (I feel there's another word an articulate person would use but it's not coming). It needs an audience to have the space to reflect on what they're seeing. The question isn't 'what happens next', it's 'what is he feeling'. It's a hard trick. And I don't know it always pulls it off.
So the good, it's beautiful. All of it but especially Edinburgh. I've been to Edinburgh twice in my life but it was amazing how much the images evoked it (it also fitted in beautifully with One Day which I was reading at the time) and made me feel as if it was somewhere I really knew.
It's a great world. The end of vaudueville. The guy is an incredible illusionist. Just a genius. But he lacks panache, showmanship and he's just not interesting when there are heartthrob rock bands to get the girls throwing knickers at. And he's not alone. There are clowns and ventriloquists and acrobats. And they're all suffering. The acrobats survive a bit more. Partly because they're a team. But the clown and the ventriloquist are broken men.
As is the Illusionist but for a little while he has a companion. A hopelessly naive young girl who believes he actually is a magician. And expects shoes and coats to be magiced up for her. I get the idea that a lonely man would indulge this emotion to have someone in their life. And I get the idea of wanting to have a daughter to indulge. But nonetheless I could never quite take it. The girl isn't charmingly naive. She's not interested in the man treating her. And she's staggeringly materialistic. I can't take interest in someone who on discovering a magical father figure just want to find a nice dress so she can find a nice man. It feels like such a lack of both imagination and soul.
And because I can't like her, I can't really like it. But it sticks. It does. The bad tricks. The vistas. The essential toughness of a man who has so little going for him but keeps at it. Fail again. Fail better.
So don't go in expecting Belleville. Don't go in expecting to come out laughing and skipping. But there is beauty and humour in this and I have this feeling of finding myself at 50 watching again and it hitting a chord it can't quite on a lucky 20 something who doesn't feel alone that often. Well, not lonely at least. Or more accurately hasn't this week.
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Star Trek
In which I demonstrate when I'm well behind the curve by reviewing films Lovefilm have chucked me as well.
Very upset with myself for missing this the first time around. It is everything a blockbuster should be. Fast paced, witty, some nicely judged set pieces and intriguingly un po-faced given its subject matter.
I applaud the attempt to free an idea from its enormous history by a nifty piece of time travel. It will certainly free up any further franchises which is undeniably important. Also I think by making Spock someone who a) has lost his homeland and b) has a sex drive, you've allowed yourself massive freedom in the dynamics between them going forward.
I'm not totally convinced by Simon Pegg which is a shame as he's normally ace but it's got Zoe Saldana in it which is never a bad thing.
My only real quibble with it is that there's a massive coincidence at the centre of it which I feel they were a bit sloppy not to deal with. When Kirk gets chucked into outer space (which in itself I think happened too quickly, I think another option needs to actually fail before you chuck him out of a pod) conveniently landing within walking distance of the marooned old school Spock was a bit lazy. I think you needed to have a reason why he goes there. Maybe in order to get rid of him new school Spock get Kirk to check out something that doesn't make sense there. It's just an awful lot of deus ex machina in the middle of the film especially with the Scotty beaming technique as well. To be honest that beaming technique is a really really powerful thing to be letting loose. Obviously being a piece of technology it can break down but it stymies a lot of plotting for future episodes because it's so handy.
But sod it, they're young and brash and make the whole thing look exciting and new. It's what a blockbuster should be and I should have seen it at time.
Bones is rubbish though.
Very upset with myself for missing this the first time around. It is everything a blockbuster should be. Fast paced, witty, some nicely judged set pieces and intriguingly un po-faced given its subject matter.
I applaud the attempt to free an idea from its enormous history by a nifty piece of time travel. It will certainly free up any further franchises which is undeniably important. Also I think by making Spock someone who a) has lost his homeland and b) has a sex drive, you've allowed yourself massive freedom in the dynamics between them going forward.
I'm not totally convinced by Simon Pegg which is a shame as he's normally ace but it's got Zoe Saldana in it which is never a bad thing.
My only real quibble with it is that there's a massive coincidence at the centre of it which I feel they were a bit sloppy not to deal with. When Kirk gets chucked into outer space (which in itself I think happened too quickly, I think another option needs to actually fail before you chuck him out of a pod) conveniently landing within walking distance of the marooned old school Spock was a bit lazy. I think you needed to have a reason why he goes there. Maybe in order to get rid of him new school Spock get Kirk to check out something that doesn't make sense there. It's just an awful lot of deus ex machina in the middle of the film especially with the Scotty beaming technique as well. To be honest that beaming technique is a really really powerful thing to be letting loose. Obviously being a piece of technology it can break down but it stymies a lot of plotting for future episodes because it's so handy.
But sod it, they're young and brash and make the whole thing look exciting and new. It's what a blockbuster should be and I should have seen it at time.
Bones is rubbish though.
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