Back from the cinema

[selenak]

I went and saw Lost in Translation, which is lovely. As someone who travels quite a lot and has had her share of jet leg, strange television and the odd encounter with countrymen and -women one either finds totally embarrassing or regards as instant soulmates, there was quite a lot to identify with. Then there's the tenderness the film has for its two main characters, and the restraint. I really appreciate they never have sex with each other. The image of the two of them finally falling asleep, with his hand on her bare foot, is more touching than the usual montage of actors faking sexual ecstasy would ever have been.

Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannsen are great in their parts, and I take it nobody is accusing Sofia Coppola of benefiting from nepotism anymore. The film has its very own style, not derivative of either her father's nor anyone elses visuals, and a dry sense of humour, too. (I don't think a male director could have resisted filming the strip club scene as sexy instead of going for the sheer flabbergasting bizarreness.) Kelly the action movie star looked like a Cameron Diaz clone, but was probably intended to be a generic sample. And I'm trying to think of the last movie that used phone calls as effectively (Mystic River tried to, but that particular subplot - about Kevin Bacon - didn't quite match the others) - they tell you all you need to know about the state of Bob's marriage, and his life.

Moreover, bimo's package arrived. Now I will have to quiet my inner revolutionary in order to appreciate another version of that arch-reactionary tale, The Scarlet Pimpernel. But hey, Ian McKellen!

Icon courtesy of jidabug. Speaking of icons, the silliness of two days ago taught me that there is a market for B5/BTVS amalgan icons, specifically one We are all Giles icon, and one Only one vampire ever managed to defeat the Slayers. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be elsewhere icon. Does anyone feel creative?

Comments

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Totally agree with you on "Lost In Translation" but -- this is an emergency. There is a version of "The Scarlet Pimpernel" with ian McKellen? How, when, where, which, who??? telltellTELL!!!

(Please. Please.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I'm about to watch it. It's from the 70s, as far as I know. Sir Ian plays Chauvelin, Jane Seymour Marguerite, and Anthony Andrews Percy.

More later.*g*

[asta77.livejournal.com]

If I recall correctly I think it was made sometime between 1983 and 1985. Having never read the book, I cannot account for it's faithfulness to the source material, but I do adore the adaption and lament that it is still not available on DVD.

As for Lost in Translation, I agree with all of your observations. I hope to see both actors honored with nominations come Oscar time for their delicate performances. The gentleness between the two of them in bed spoke far more about their relationship then thrashing around in bed ever would have.

[anodyna.livejournal.com]

It's been a long time since I saw the movie and read the book, but I do remember being disappointed that many of the lines and scenes I enjoyed most from the movie weren't in the book at all--kind of a reverse of the disappointment I usually feel when a movie deviates from a beloved book!

"Delicate" is an excellent description of the performances in Lost in Translation. The actors killed me with their facial expressions and body language, which were eloquent in a way I don't think words could have been. I suppose that fits in with the final scene, where we never hear what he says to her, and yet it's perfect, and feels like great relief and closure.

[asta77.livejournal.com]

Interesting to know there are movies that can do justice to, or even improve upon, their source material.

I suppose that fits in with the final scene, where we never hear what he says to her, and yet it's perfect, and feels like great relief and closure.

I hadn't thought about it in those terms, but I agree with you. I recall not needing to hear exactly what was said because, taking into consideration the words and actions proceeding that moment, I was able to fill in the blanks for myself.

[honorh.livejournal.com]

This version includes material from both The Scarlet Pimpernel and El Dorado, so it's not precisely faithful to either. Nonetheless, it's exceedingly fun, with great performances from Sir Ian, Sir Anthony, and Jane Seymour. I always loved it.

Rumor has it...

[ratmmjess.livejournal.com]

...that the film is more autobiographical than Sophia Coppola wants to let on, that the blonde character was a Cameron Diaz analogue, that Giovanni Ribisi's character was a Spike Jonze analogue, that Scarlett Johannson represented Sophia herself, and that Bill Murray's character was a Harrison Ford analogue.

But, of course, this is all rumor.

Re: Rumor has it...

[kitsune76.livejournal.com]

Boy, Mr Ford has *really* let himself go! And gotten funnier with it.

At least, this is what's rumoured.

I now blame you...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

...entirely for scarring me for life with the mental image of Harrison Ford singing Karaoke.*g*

Seriously: hm. Scarlett Johannson had some of the mannerisms I recall from The Godfather III. (BTW, never understood the critics going out of their way to bash Sofia Coppola's performance in it. She was neither great nor horrible, but then Mary Corleone as written didn't call for a great range.)

Re: I now blame you...

[ratmmjess.livejournal.com]

If Harrison Ford sang "More Than This" a quarter as well as Bill Murray did--if that moment was a fraction as moving in real life as it was on film--than I'd let him take me.

And I'm hetero.

It is interesting gossip, isn't it? Oddly, it doesn't alter my feeling for the film a bit, which isn't usually the case with these sorts of things.

I think critics just savaged her performance in Godfather III because they could, because they wouldn't take on Coppola himself, so they they slammed him by proxy.

[penknife.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a fun version of Pimpernel. And Ian McKellan is terrific. Although the Percy/Marguerite plot suffers from being hung on the romance-novel cliche of a terrible misunderstanding that could be sorted out in three lines if the characters would just talk to each other.