Filmography
Nov. 2nd, 2013 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_lady_lilyLes Miserables
I've never seen the musical, and the film got such positive reviews I figured I might as well. It took me a few weeks to watch it to the end, but I did rather enjoy it, and had a good weep at the weepy bit at the end (as of course you are totally supposed to). I rather enjoyed the singing, and - well. It was daft good fun with interesting costumes and full of musical-i-ness.
Anna Karenina
I was very impressed with this, having read the novel some time ago. I think the reason it works so well is because of the very stylized and Brechtian form of filmography. It takes the story a little out of its very historical context and instead makes it... I don't know, more accessible than full trad costume drama would have done? Also, it's noticeable that the only scenes that escape being shot in this distanced fashion are those in the countryside, a place to escape from continual judgement and artificiality. The effect of the rest of the film being shot in a theatre (albeit one cleverly and carefully expanded through the medium of CGI and dance) brings home the observational mode of living which both is current today and was Anna's downfall in some interesting ways. Kiera Knightly, for all her thoughts, was actually rather good in this - she's getting better at picking parts that suit her, and the lack of naturalism in the piece as a whole meant she was the right casting for Anna. So I very much enjoyed this, aided by the style - I'm not sure what I would have made of it if it hadn't been filmed in the very particular way that it was.
The Princess and the Frog
Yes, I gave into some Disney. It's fine. I could go into a huge moment about this and its problems concerned with race, because there are quite a few - but it's also pretty darn ground-breaking in having a black princess/heroine and for attempting to represent some of the historical race issues that existed in the South. For a children's film, there's a big issue about how you cope with the fact that Tiana lives in a wee house and Charlotte lives in a big house and all the associated social history and tension - and why Tiana's mother works as a maid and why Big Daddy is a cheerful capitalist type. Do you expect Disney to go into that? Actually, no. Do you expect Disney to risk that? Actually... no. So this is a bit boundary-breaking, but that involves the risk it's going to go wrong. It does. It's not perfect on all levels, and I won't be convinced about Disney's new credentials until I see another animated film with a black female protagonist, and another, and another. But it's a start - and it's also fairly cheerful inoffensive stuff for a tired evening, which was why I watched it.
I've never seen the musical, and the film got such positive reviews I figured I might as well. It took me a few weeks to watch it to the end, but I did rather enjoy it, and had a good weep at the weepy bit at the end (as of course you are totally supposed to). I rather enjoyed the singing, and - well. It was daft good fun with interesting costumes and full of musical-i-ness.
Anna Karenina
I was very impressed with this, having read the novel some time ago. I think the reason it works so well is because of the very stylized and Brechtian form of filmography. It takes the story a little out of its very historical context and instead makes it... I don't know, more accessible than full trad costume drama would have done? Also, it's noticeable that the only scenes that escape being shot in this distanced fashion are those in the countryside, a place to escape from continual judgement and artificiality. The effect of the rest of the film being shot in a theatre (albeit one cleverly and carefully expanded through the medium of CGI and dance) brings home the observational mode of living which both is current today and was Anna's downfall in some interesting ways. Kiera Knightly, for all her thoughts, was actually rather good in this - she's getting better at picking parts that suit her, and the lack of naturalism in the piece as a whole meant she was the right casting for Anna. So I very much enjoyed this, aided by the style - I'm not sure what I would have made of it if it hadn't been filmed in the very particular way that it was.
The Princess and the Frog
Yes, I gave into some Disney. It's fine. I could go into a huge moment about this and its problems concerned with race, because there are quite a few - but it's also pretty darn ground-breaking in having a black princess/heroine and for attempting to represent some of the historical race issues that existed in the South. For a children's film, there's a big issue about how you cope with the fact that Tiana lives in a wee house and Charlotte lives in a big house and all the associated social history and tension - and why Tiana's mother works as a maid and why Big Daddy is a cheerful capitalist type. Do you expect Disney to go into that? Actually, no. Do you expect Disney to risk that? Actually... no. So this is a bit boundary-breaking, but that involves the risk it's going to go wrong. It does. It's not perfect on all levels, and I won't be convinced about Disney's new credentials until I see another animated film with a black female protagonist, and another, and another. But it's a start - and it's also fairly cheerful inoffensive stuff for a tired evening, which was why I watched it.
