Filmography
Jul. 15th, 2012 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_lady_lilyTinker, Sailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)
I haven't seen the original film, and wasn't quite sure how I was going to get on with this, but it's actually pretty darn good. It's very spare, letting the camera work do all of the action, and keeping the dialogue to an absolute minimum. In fact, Smiley's one extended speech at the centre of the film stands out as a really important episode precisely because it's the most he speaks in the whole film. The director, Tomas Alfredson, is a master at communicating subtext through filming seemingly irrelevant scenes; for instance, the film constantly flashbacks to one particular office Christmas party, where each time we see another snippet, we understand something more about the characters who we see before us. There are also some very good roles for usually comic characters - Kathy Burke has an excellent cameo, and Roger Lloyd-Pack features as an ex-something-or-other man who provides Smiley with back-up as he tries to work out the identity of the Russian mole at the top of British intelligence.
The whole film is sparse but perfectly poised, spare if you will. It was gripping to watch, with some simply superb cinematography. I can see why it did so well at the BAFTAs and, indeed, in critical reception more generally. Marvellous stuff, although (obviously) do be in the mood for a thriller before sitting down to it.
Strictly Ballroom
Brilliantly, unashamedly daft good fun. Will Scott Hastings, star of his dance studio, win the Pan Pacific Grand Prix, despite his heretical belief that he can make up his own steps? Will Fran, only a beginner, have the courage to ask him to be her partner? Will Fran's immigrant family ever take Scott to their busom? Will the Hastings family secrets ever be revealed??
It's dreadfully camp, it's terribly contrived, the actors ham it up with completely straight faces, and it's brilliant feel-good entertainment. With dance routines and shiny costumes and Performance Smiles on. I had no idea this was a Baz Luhrmann, but it explains a lot about Moulin Rouge, is all I'm saying.
Ella Enchanted
A bit of fluff. Fairly unremarkable - a young girl is given the gift of obedience by a fairy godmother and then finds herself in the position where obedience may lead to her killing the young man she loves, who also happens to be the heir apparent to Fairyland. There are some extremely problematic issues about coercion, domestic violence and all sorts of other things in here. The film sort of touches on them, but it smoothes over other places where, actually, there is real nasty unpleasant squick value. The point, incidentally, turns out to be that she has the ability to not obey inside her, and thus not kill said prince, but it's still all just a bit EEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW. I can see a good moral hidden under there, and there are some fun vignettes, but the whole underlying concept is just so icky and incompletely presented that I can't really recommend it in good conscience. And that's despite Joanna Lumley on mildly amusing form. Yeah, could have been a lot better if it had actually been a bit more self-aware and focused less on the whole 'yes, we are going to have a baddie who cackles, because that's enough tounge-in-cheek awareness for us!' side of things. Sigh.
46 - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - to be reviewed Elsewhere.
47 - Derek Jarman's Sebastiane - to be reviewed Elsewhere.
I haven't seen the original film, and wasn't quite sure how I was going to get on with this, but it's actually pretty darn good. It's very spare, letting the camera work do all of the action, and keeping the dialogue to an absolute minimum. In fact, Smiley's one extended speech at the centre of the film stands out as a really important episode precisely because it's the most he speaks in the whole film. The director, Tomas Alfredson, is a master at communicating subtext through filming seemingly irrelevant scenes; for instance, the film constantly flashbacks to one particular office Christmas party, where each time we see another snippet, we understand something more about the characters who we see before us. There are also some very good roles for usually comic characters - Kathy Burke has an excellent cameo, and Roger Lloyd-Pack features as an ex-something-or-other man who provides Smiley with back-up as he tries to work out the identity of the Russian mole at the top of British intelligence.
The whole film is sparse but perfectly poised, spare if you will. It was gripping to watch, with some simply superb cinematography. I can see why it did so well at the BAFTAs and, indeed, in critical reception more generally. Marvellous stuff, although (obviously) do be in the mood for a thriller before sitting down to it.
Strictly Ballroom
Brilliantly, unashamedly daft good fun. Will Scott Hastings, star of his dance studio, win the Pan Pacific Grand Prix, despite his heretical belief that he can make up his own steps? Will Fran, only a beginner, have the courage to ask him to be her partner? Will Fran's immigrant family ever take Scott to their busom? Will the Hastings family secrets ever be revealed??
It's dreadfully camp, it's terribly contrived, the actors ham it up with completely straight faces, and it's brilliant feel-good entertainment. With dance routines and shiny costumes and Performance Smiles on. I had no idea this was a Baz Luhrmann, but it explains a lot about Moulin Rouge, is all I'm saying.
Ella Enchanted
A bit of fluff. Fairly unremarkable - a young girl is given the gift of obedience by a fairy godmother and then finds herself in the position where obedience may lead to her killing the young man she loves, who also happens to be the heir apparent to Fairyland. There are some extremely problematic issues about coercion, domestic violence and all sorts of other things in here. The film sort of touches on them, but it smoothes over other places where, actually, there is real nasty unpleasant squick value. The point, incidentally, turns out to be that she has the ability to not obey inside her, and thus not kill said prince, but it's still all just a bit EEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW. I can see a good moral hidden under there, and there are some fun vignettes, but the whole underlying concept is just so icky and incompletely presented that I can't really recommend it in good conscience. And that's despite Joanna Lumley on mildly amusing form. Yeah, could have been a lot better if it had actually been a bit more self-aware and focused less on the whole 'yes, we are going to have a baddie who cackles, because that's enough tounge-in-cheek awareness for us!' side of things. Sigh.
46 - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - to be reviewed Elsewhere.
47 - Derek Jarman's Sebastiane - to be reviewed Elsewhere.
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Date: 2012-07-16 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-16 07:32 pm (UTC)