I have only seen a few movies over the past couple of months. I missed Rent and Walk the Line. I'm hoping they'll be back in the theaters come Oscar time. I did see Brokeback Mountain, I'm happy to say. I would hate not to know what all the fuss was about. I found it a little long and not exactly uplifting. But the acting -- unforgettable. Absolutely riveting performances by both actors. I thought they were just great. I will be surprised if Heath Ledger doesn't win an Academy Award. And the cinematography was also stunning. Just a beautiful film in many ways. The love scenes were so vivid, and the passion oozed off the screen. Of course, it was a little weird to be watching with my teenage daughter but she closed her eyes thru a lot of it. And we had to pretend to the family we had gone to see something else.
The other film I saw over Christmas was Narnia. Great acting by the kids, and Tumnus is just a wonderful character. I did also like the connection with the war which is more understated in the book. Otherwise I thought it was portentous and overblown; Lewis hits you over the head with his goodness triumphing over evil. But that's perfectly in line with the simplistic thinking of today's American public. We are the good guys, scorching the terrorists, nevermind the helpless men, women and children who get burnt in the process. It's so easy not to even know about them.
The best film I've seen recently is Capote. I can hardly stop thinking about it. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was completely mesmerizing. I really felt as if I were in Capote's presence. Everything about him--the humor, the campiness, the vulnerability, the pathos--was completely captivating. And his relationship with Harper Lee, which I had heard about, was so tender and co-dependent at the same time. The story was compelling as well. I remember reading In Cold Blood as a teenager AND seeing the movie. Both were so completely haunting that I'll never forget them. All that came back to me as I watched the story of him pursuing the book that changed 20th Century Literature. It wasn't easy. As it shouldn't be. It wrung everything out of him. That's what I loved most about the movie. That reminder of what it takes to be a writer. The obsession. The complete commitment to the point that you will give your life for a story, for your art. The cruelty as well. And that's what made this such an interesting piece. Capote's heartlessness and manipulation as he clawed the story out of his victims, and yet the devastating pain he felt in the process. Such complexity of character. Brilliant. You must be very brave to be a great writer. I'm afraid that ideal is gone with the new century. But that's a topic for another blog.
The other night we went to the movie store since our friends left town without lending us Their Gilmore Girls DVDs. Couldn't figure out what to pick up. There are so many movies that C should see to round out her movie education but neither of us were in the mood for something heavy. Then I saw it: The Graduate. My heart leapt. One of the greatest movies of all time. It succeeds on every level and, not only succeeds, but transcends the art form with stunning editing. I pointed out the masterful brilliance of the montage sequence which ends with Benjamin leaping onto a raft in the pool which turns out to be Mrs. Robinson in bed. She admired it but, of course, since it was her first time she was too caught up in the story to quite understand what a piece of virtuosity that sequence really is. An actor herself, she was especially impressed with Dustin Hoffman's performance and reminded me of seeing him in Rain Man. I'm glad she can recognize that level of talent. But I had to laugh. She had such different visuals for the song "Mrs. Robinson" in her head before she saw the movie and realized just who Mrs. Robinson was. She hated Mrs. Robinson. I said if she'd had more exposure to alcoholics, she might be more tolerant of them. Another brilliant bit of complexity in that character. Well, as I said there are no flaws in this movie and it is so original--still, after all these years.
While at the movie store we also picked up The Talented Mr. Ripley. C was out, so I invited my husband to come watch it with me. He had earlier mentioned that his friend's wife had dragged him to see Brokeback Mountain and his friend was traumatized. I said it was a wonderful movie but I would never dream of asking him to see it. I know better than that. He is way too homophobic. Not only that he only likes movies that are strictly entertaining. Which is what I had rather hoped Ripley would be. My husband wondered if it was about the believe it or not guy. I said, no. So what do you know? We're about a quarter of the way into the movie when Matt Damon's character--Tom Ripley--wants to crawl into the bathtub with another man. So that was when my husband exited the room. I tried to watch the rest of the movie, but it was so plodding and Damon's character was so pathetic and cloying that it made me squirm to watch him. He's an actor I generally like but I guess I was expecting a more conniving, more charismatic character. So I double-sped thru a lot of it. I just wasn't caught up in it at all. The only thing that made it good for me was . . . the appearance of Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Freddy. Wow. He is so good. So chilling. I wonder if he's the best guy out there right now. He has so much depth. I think I could watch him in just about anything.
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