Filmography
Jan. 14th, 2007 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_lady_lilyMeet Joe Black
I've been trying to watch this film for absolutely ages, and have only just got round to it. I'm kind of torn as to whether it was worth it, and I'm afraid I'm leaning towards it not being, although it has got a cracking soundtrack in places.
Plot - Death, before taking William Parrish, successful media chappie (played quite well by Anthony Hopkins), decides he wants a holiday in the real world. He gets hold of a body and basically haunts Parrish's side, managing to get him deposed as chairman of his company and fall in love with his daughter in the process. On the day of Parrish's 65th birthday, Death helps him get reinstated as the chairman of his company (thus diverting a hostile takeover bid and revealing the insider scummy chap), break up with the daughter rather than bring her into the infinite as well, take Parrish off, and give the body back to the nice young man to whom it belongs, and who the daughter met in a coffee shop on the morning of the unfortunate accident that gave Death access to said body.
It's an intriguing concept, and in some ways it plays out very well. I freely admit I was at several points in floods of tears, particularly right at the end when Death and Parrish saunter off, and the whole 'Death discovering sex' thing was pretty touching. Equally, the scenes in-between Death and an old lady from Jamaica in the hospital where the daughter is a doctor were wonderful - Death suddenly started spouting perfectly pitched patois, while the old lady looked on in a 'dear lord, Death is standing right over there, perhaps if I smile nicely he'll take me away from all this pain' kind of way.
Unfortunately, that was not enough to save this film. Problem the first - it's an hour too long. At least. Alright, Brad Pitt getting naked is a good thing, but fifteen minutes of golden-light-drenched sex is pushing it, even if it is to a good tune. Plenty of the stuff could be cut, or long takes chopped a bit more brutally, and a bit less silence and brooding and shadows. Problem the second - Claire Forlani, playing the daughter and thus pretty darn pivotal, was completely wooden. Her face had two expressions - at rest and angst. Similar with her vocal tone. For such a central character, this was a major weakness, especially when her sister was somewhat more versatile but given a far more 2D character. Problem the third - the last five minutes, when young man saunters back 'himself' and not death, were incredibly weak and didn't satisfactorily tie up the loose ends at all, but walked away as if they'd done the job nicely, hoping no-one would notice. Sorry, I did.
Three stars. Which is a shame, because it could have been a very good film.
I've been trying to watch this film for absolutely ages, and have only just got round to it. I'm kind of torn as to whether it was worth it, and I'm afraid I'm leaning towards it not being, although it has got a cracking soundtrack in places.
Plot - Death, before taking William Parrish, successful media chappie (played quite well by Anthony Hopkins), decides he wants a holiday in the real world. He gets hold of a body and basically haunts Parrish's side, managing to get him deposed as chairman of his company and fall in love with his daughter in the process. On the day of Parrish's 65th birthday, Death helps him get reinstated as the chairman of his company (thus diverting a hostile takeover bid and revealing the insider scummy chap), break up with the daughter rather than bring her into the infinite as well, take Parrish off, and give the body back to the nice young man to whom it belongs, and who the daughter met in a coffee shop on the morning of the unfortunate accident that gave Death access to said body.
It's an intriguing concept, and in some ways it plays out very well. I freely admit I was at several points in floods of tears, particularly right at the end when Death and Parrish saunter off, and the whole 'Death discovering sex' thing was pretty touching. Equally, the scenes in-between Death and an old lady from Jamaica in the hospital where the daughter is a doctor were wonderful - Death suddenly started spouting perfectly pitched patois, while the old lady looked on in a 'dear lord, Death is standing right over there, perhaps if I smile nicely he'll take me away from all this pain' kind of way.
Unfortunately, that was not enough to save this film. Problem the first - it's an hour too long. At least. Alright, Brad Pitt getting naked is a good thing, but fifteen minutes of golden-light-drenched sex is pushing it, even if it is to a good tune. Plenty of the stuff could be cut, or long takes chopped a bit more brutally, and a bit less silence and brooding and shadows. Problem the second - Claire Forlani, playing the daughter and thus pretty darn pivotal, was completely wooden. Her face had two expressions - at rest and angst. Similar with her vocal tone. For such a central character, this was a major weakness, especially when her sister was somewhat more versatile but given a far more 2D character. Problem the third - the last five minutes, when young man saunters back 'himself' and not death, were incredibly weak and didn't satisfactorily tie up the loose ends at all, but walked away as if they'd done the job nicely, hoping no-one would notice. Sorry, I did.
Three stars. Which is a shame, because it could have been a very good film.
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Date: 2007-01-15 07:51 pm (UTC)Though I did like the peanut butter.
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Date: 2007-01-15 08:14 pm (UTC)