Let's get this immediate reaction out of the way so you can accept my stance on this film. I think it's amazing, I would go as far as to say it's one of the best Bonds ever. I have already been chided for this remark but this is what I will go on to argue in the coming inevitably long paragraphs. Having slept instead of staying up extremely late to write this review I'm worried the post-cinema glow will have faded, and as with Looper (another film I genuinely liked) I'll forget exactly what was so good and fail to write anything of note. This is a pressing concern. Nevertheless I know what I want to say so let's have at it.
My mother, having seen the film before me (distressing) declared that the film was boring. She said there was very little action, she didn't understand the motives of the villain, she wasn't happy with his terrible hair, and she didn't understand why James Bond was so dull. Let me confirm one thing, I don't think my mum could be more wrong. The first twenty minutes is a breathless chase with motorbikes on rooftops, a train-top digger incident and fist-fight and a shocking twist. Fair enough the following sequences aren't quite as bombastic but I think the film does something unique in a Bond film which is match the action with the quieter developments and themes with some skill. I wasn't bothered that Bond wasn't kicking ass because I was so enjoying his company. This is where I do believe my partner couldn't disagree more and this is where the big divisive part of this film comes from.
In Skyfall Q hands Bond a gun, it's programmed to his fingerprints/palms so only he can use it - 'Less of a random killing machine, more of a personal statement.'* Now I'm not the first or the last person to make the the claim that this essentially sums up the film. It definitely resonates from the moment it's said and the more the film unfurls around us it's more apparent that is a personal statement as much as it is an action film.
But herein lies the problem. Do we want to know Bond? Do we care? Is that what fans of the series want? My cinema buddy thinks not, he wants excitement, he wants audacious action set-pieces, he wants Bond to sleep with the woman, have a drink and go to bed and call it a day. More-so than before in the series the Daniel Craig era has been working at fleshing out the character of Bond by giving us his origins, developing his relationship with Judi Dench's M, and making him work through his personal demons. I could watch all of Sean Connery's Bond career and sum up his character in several points: Bond can kill anyone with any tool, skilled at everything, he'll have sex with any woman who is attractive -skills, he loves to drink but specifically a Martini, he can't help crack a quip - he's witty, he is a man on a mission and will do anything to see it done - brave/courageous. Aside from that there is little else that really sticks; specifically the women he entangles himself with each film. Bond is an action man and nothing more. This is what people have come to expect from a Bond film, especially if you've just spent the past few weeks trying to watch all the previous films in as short a time as possible.** In Skyfall Bond transcends the stereotype Bond has become and we actually learn more about him. A heated debate ensued with my partner as to whether or not this is a good thing. 'Bond should bang the women, save the world, have a drink and kick ass!' My partner declared, I disagree.
James Bond has been around for 50 years now, in fact they released the film on it's 50th anniversary, Bond's favourite whiskey in the film is a 1962 malt, Bond drives his beloved Aston Martin DB5 which plays an integral part to the films last act, there is a deep respect for the film's heritage running throughout. Fifty years is a bloody long time! No other franchise could go on that long, unless it was uniquely British***. We can't have Sean Connery donning a tuxedo and jumping off buildings any more (although that would be awesome...), times change and Bond does too. They are building on the character of Bond, they are doing something different, we are learning more about him and he is becoming 'less of a random killing machine.' Over the years Bond has faced a lot of stiff competition, we're getting a whole new generation of action films, they're everywhere! And in them all we pretty much get the one-dimensional male who will inevitably kick some serious ass and save the world/family/country. Will he look as good in a dinner jacket? No, no one can. But there are so many knocking about, we're looking for more! In the good old days all Bond had to do was turn up in his suit complete with his exploding pen and pistol and he would be the best thing in the cinema by a long way. Times have changed, there are plenty of blockbuster action films about now, Bond isn't unique. Skyfall has proven to me as a fan of not only Bond but cinema, is that Bond is the best. He is the best at saving the world, he is the best at action, and most importantly he is the best at giving us a hero to root for, a fleshed out and interesting person, a man. That's more than your standard action fodder, no? Once again we are being given a unique cinematic experience. A film steeped in heritage, an action film with a beating heart, a respect for the past, an acknowledgement of modernity, an all around belter of action and twists and turns, and most importantly, thoroughly entertaining!
So what about the actual film? I'm at pains to give anything away as I expect anyone who grazes their eyes across this review to go see Skyfall immediately, as in right now, go! Actually you know what, I don't think I need to justify the film with an actual review, or a rehash of minor plot details and my sole quibble about the film.**** The Bond girls, in their own way were great, not one of them felt the need to don a bikini for no apparent reason. The acting was up to such a high standard, every action sequence had a sliver of humour as well as heart-in-your-mouth action. The cinematography! I know I keep throwing that word out there... but the film was shot superbly, the locations, the whole mood of the film was just absolutely stunning, I've not seen a more beautifully shot film in years.
Just get off your arses and go see the movie, you won't be disappointed. If you are, simply crack out the old Bond boxsets and watch Connery at work, just not the Roger Moore ones, kay?
* First off, Q is played by the fantastic Ben Whishaw, seriously give
the man a hand, I've seen him in Criminal Justice (BBC miniseries grim)
The Hours (BBC attempt at Mad Men but in the newsroom in the 50s) and
I'm Not There (for a film with so many acting heavyweights playing Bob
Dylan my favourite parts were his, he lit up the screen.) So in all
honesty it's such a delight to see him in a big blockbuster movie
playing such an iconic role, I'm so made up for him, plus he does such a
good job!
** Not that I did that... Well ok, maybe I watched a few, I was genuinely that excited!
***An institution, like Doctor Who. We know how to continue a series successfully for many decades. And let's face it, there are missteps in both Bond and Who but instead of ignoring them we embrace the mistakes and continue to strive for perfection.
**** **Slight spoilers** It's not right that they put Bond appearing and shooting the screen with the blood running down, at the end. It should be at the beginning godamnit! I know it would have messed with the aesthetic of the start sequence but it's supposed to be at the beginning! It's not Bond if he doesn't 'die' at least once... Plus it wouldn't be much of a film series if they just killed him... Stick it at the beginning!
Monday, 29 October 2012
Friday, 26 October 2012
Recollections
That's right, it's another quote entry no one asked for. I recalled a whole load of quotes that I hadn't used previously, none of them were from me but I may slip some personal gems in there. I seem to be gradually getting into a better mood lately. Perhaps me and my boyfriend are finally seeming to connect again, perhaps it's that new shampoo which makes my hair smell really nice, perhaps it's the bottle of wine I drank for no apparent reason other than it was £1.99 and tasted like vinegar water, perhaps it's because I'm going home tomorrow to see my mother and I will drink a whole load more wine and regret saying and doing things which my family will thankfully forget and never speak of again. Who knows. Perhaps I truly am just a zombie*.
Here's the thing: If you ever got me, you wouldn't have a clue what to do with me. (1)
It's not so pleasant and it's not so conventional. It sure as hell ain't normal but we deal, we deal. (2)
Girls are supposed to dance. That's why god gave them parts that jiggle.(3)
To be forgotten is worse than death. (4)
The things I do for love. (5)
But you know what’s left? Love. All I feel for you now is love. Nothing else. (6)
I'm running away with you, that's all I ever do. Let's leave it all behind, help me back, to my mind. (7)
Nobody knows you, and nobody gives a damn either way. (8)
During your first time, if the guy says to you at any point, 'Please let me do you up the arse because my girlfriend won't let me.' You know something has gone horribly wrong. (9)
We want the finest wines available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now! (10)
Urgh, where did that bottle of wine go... Why are my eyes stinging... Oh right... It's been the longest day I've had in ages. Calling quits until I think of more. Ah yes the empty bottle of wine has wriggled down to my ankles on bed... I should put that somewhere safe. Off home tomorrow to regret visiting my parents, getting drunk and watching Saturday night television after meal at the restaurant time forgot next to the beach I spent my youth gazing at whimsically. Will stumble into Uncle's bed and breakfast after crawling out of home, make enough noise to warrant being chastised in the morning for disturbing guests, will scarf down sausage sammich in ill thought out pyjamas, will then spend hour telling my aunt about all the things I daren't tell my mother.... If anyone in the universe knows the whole story they will be hunted down and silenced. I mean the whole story of my life of course. Happy days.
(1) So, funny story, this is a quote from Maxine in Being John Malkovich (it's entrenched in the top 5 of my favourite films ever). It was also a line I used the days I was single and ready to mingle at the bars. I think the term used to describe me would be a bar fly. I'd let a guy chat me up, I'd pout and banter until he bought me a drink, then there would be the inevitable come on. I would smile and place my hand on his shoulder, I would say this line and nine times out of ten the guy would accept I wasn't interested and move on to the next girl with the garish make up and tiny skirt... Them were the days... In the rare instance it would cause a man to be even more clingy I would down the drink and leave the club/bar without a second thought and disappear.
(2) Boo Panic at the Disco you say? Well boo you! Their first album, although experimental in essence was beyond amazing. I don't care... Unfortunately their second album destroyed my faith in their creativity and direction as a band (as most second albums tend to do...) and I lost my interest in them. So this song is about lead lyricist Ryan Ross contending with his father's alcoholism, go figure, it's pretty intense. Can't say my family was as dysfunctional with it's hospital visits but we were vicious. My sister and I didn't realise how wrong it was until a therapist told us otherwise. It's the saddest day of your life when you realise your parents aren't infallible, when you discover they are as fragile and as lost as you are. It's heartbreaking when you realise you can't help them, no matter how hard you try. So this song helped me through some teenage dark days, hardcore, I know.
|(3) Not so much a best quote line but an anecdote initiator. Thank you Troy Barnes from Community, the best TV show ever for pointing out something hilarious and truthful - I am aware the picture is actually from Troy's extremely well thought out crab joke, I just love his beautiful face. I told the people at my volunteer job I was a professional dancer (utter bullshit), I may have elaborated further to claim I was in a production of the Nutcracker when I was 16, back then I could get my leg over the head, oh yeah I could do it now, I just need to stretch and be at the right angle. No one flinches at my continuous double entendres, hence my persistence and continued elaborate lies in order to get a chortle out of someone. No I'm not Clara, she's blonde, are you crazy? Sugar Plum Fairy? More like Sugar Bum... Do I look like a fat arse to you? Surprisingly I haven't had any liquid courage to come out with these lines, everyone is just really forgiving or forgetful at that place...
(4) Poor Freya Crescent, no one likes you. Well I sure as hell don't. Poor Freya, a relatively ignored character from my favourite Final Fantasy of the franchise FFIX. That game has carved such a special place in my heart that it will forever remain there never to be replaced, I know it more intimately than anything I've known, it's my favourite game. Unfortunately the best quote, the most truthful, the most memorable, my favourite quote, comes from a virtual non-entity after disc 1... Shame. Awesome quote, beautiful game.
(5) The things I would do for Jaime Lannister...
(6) As with most sane people I wasn't a great big fan of season 4 of Skins, I think I mentioned it on this blog in fact. I love the rest of it, even that ill advised 3rd generation which no one particularly liked but me, I watched it all rapt with awe and a curled lip of disbelief as I ranted about songs appearing which shouldn't have in certain episodes. But here it is, the quote from Skins I remember the most and that sticks out so strongly. Go figure, season 4 had something good, it's adorable and heartfelt.
(7) You're on a train, you're trying to convey something. You're sitting next to someone you love, you've fled your life, coming back from somewhere you'd never been, you want to convey how much they mean to you, what it all was for. You convinced them the best thing to do was just run, to just escape instead of face the problems at hand, you talked in a different city, you pretended for one day to forget it all, you were happy, what you always wanted to be. You play this song, it conveys all you wanted to say without saying anything. They understood, nothing more was said. You return to reality, your whole self aches to run again.
(8) I'll Believe in Anything is originally by Wolf Parade but I have two covers by Sunset Rubdown and Her Space Holiday also on my iTunes. It's an awesome song regardless of who sings it, I'll take any, they are all awesome. Brilliant song and a quote that also soothes on those lonely days. The original is the best, although I could change my mind again...
(9) My personal attempt at imparting wisdom. I went home this weekend, spoke to my cousin, she is more interested in talking about sex now she is a gnarly teenager, she wanted to know about my first time. In a moment of familial affection I decided to be completely honest with her and use the story of my first time as a cautionary tale. It ended up being condensed into one bitesize quote. If she loses her virginity in a manner which is less awkward and rubbish than mine then I'll consider my job done. Hopefully she won't let me down.
(10) Withnail. Richard E. Grant, one of the best characters in a film, an alcoholic, narcissistic unemployed actor. His first role in a film, and this from a man who is a complete teetotaller, amazing! It's such a good film and it's use of Hamlet quotes also please me. The whole holiday in the Lakes never ceases to amuse me, and Uncle Monty! So of course nothing beats Richard E Grant flouncing into a cafe and demanding alcohols for his parched throat.
*A guy at work calls me a zombie. It's because I walk around with a dazed expression on my face I assume. It's just how my face relaxes... At my previous job a girl told me in a much nicer manner 'You're just really hard to read.' Hence why no one bothered and I remained on the shelf among the other autobiographies no one has any interest in.
Here's the thing: If you ever got me, you wouldn't have a clue what to do with me. (1)
It's not so pleasant and it's not so conventional. It sure as hell ain't normal but we deal, we deal. (2)
Girls are supposed to dance. That's why god gave them parts that jiggle.(3)
To be forgotten is worse than death. (4)
The things I do for love. (5)
But you know what’s left? Love. All I feel for you now is love. Nothing else. (6)
I'm running away with you, that's all I ever do. Let's leave it all behind, help me back, to my mind. (7)
Nobody knows you, and nobody gives a damn either way. (8)
During your first time, if the guy says to you at any point, 'Please let me do you up the arse because my girlfriend won't let me.' You know something has gone horribly wrong. (9)
We want the finest wines available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now! (10)
Urgh, where did that bottle of wine go... Why are my eyes stinging... Oh right... It's been the longest day I've had in ages. Calling quits until I think of more. Ah yes the empty bottle of wine has wriggled down to my ankles on bed... I should put that somewhere safe. Off home tomorrow to regret visiting my parents, getting drunk and watching Saturday night television after meal at the restaurant time forgot next to the beach I spent my youth gazing at whimsically. Will stumble into Uncle's bed and breakfast after crawling out of home, make enough noise to warrant being chastised in the morning for disturbing guests, will scarf down sausage sammich in ill thought out pyjamas, will then spend hour telling my aunt about all the things I daren't tell my mother.... If anyone in the universe knows the whole story they will be hunted down and silenced. I mean the whole story of my life of course. Happy days.
(1) So, funny story, this is a quote from Maxine in Being John Malkovich (it's entrenched in the top 5 of my favourite films ever). It was also a line I used the days I was single and ready to mingle at the bars. I think the term used to describe me would be a bar fly. I'd let a guy chat me up, I'd pout and banter until he bought me a drink, then there would be the inevitable come on. I would smile and place my hand on his shoulder, I would say this line and nine times out of ten the guy would accept I wasn't interested and move on to the next girl with the garish make up and tiny skirt... Them were the days... In the rare instance it would cause a man to be even more clingy I would down the drink and leave the club/bar without a second thought and disappear.
(2) Boo Panic at the Disco you say? Well boo you! Their first album, although experimental in essence was beyond amazing. I don't care... Unfortunately their second album destroyed my faith in their creativity and direction as a band (as most second albums tend to do...) and I lost my interest in them. So this song is about lead lyricist Ryan Ross contending with his father's alcoholism, go figure, it's pretty intense. Can't say my family was as dysfunctional with it's hospital visits but we were vicious. My sister and I didn't realise how wrong it was until a therapist told us otherwise. It's the saddest day of your life when you realise your parents aren't infallible, when you discover they are as fragile and as lost as you are. It's heartbreaking when you realise you can't help them, no matter how hard you try. So this song helped me through some teenage dark days, hardcore, I know.
|(3) Not so much a best quote line but an anecdote initiator. Thank you Troy Barnes from Community, the best TV show ever for pointing out something hilarious and truthful - I am aware the picture is actually from Troy's extremely well thought out crab joke, I just love his beautiful face. I told the people at my volunteer job I was a professional dancer (utter bullshit), I may have elaborated further to claim I was in a production of the Nutcracker when I was 16, back then I could get my leg over the head, oh yeah I could do it now, I just need to stretch and be at the right angle. No one flinches at my continuous double entendres, hence my persistence and continued elaborate lies in order to get a chortle out of someone. No I'm not Clara, she's blonde, are you crazy? Sugar Plum Fairy? More like Sugar Bum... Do I look like a fat arse to you? Surprisingly I haven't had any liquid courage to come out with these lines, everyone is just really forgiving or forgetful at that place...
(4) Poor Freya Crescent, no one likes you. Well I sure as hell don't. Poor Freya, a relatively ignored character from my favourite Final Fantasy of the franchise FFIX. That game has carved such a special place in my heart that it will forever remain there never to be replaced, I know it more intimately than anything I've known, it's my favourite game. Unfortunately the best quote, the most truthful, the most memorable, my favourite quote, comes from a virtual non-entity after disc 1... Shame. Awesome quote, beautiful game.
(5) The things I would do for Jaime Lannister...
(6) As with most sane people I wasn't a great big fan of season 4 of Skins, I think I mentioned it on this blog in fact. I love the rest of it, even that ill advised 3rd generation which no one particularly liked but me, I watched it all rapt with awe and a curled lip of disbelief as I ranted about songs appearing which shouldn't have in certain episodes. But here it is, the quote from Skins I remember the most and that sticks out so strongly. Go figure, season 4 had something good, it's adorable and heartfelt.
(7) You're on a train, you're trying to convey something. You're sitting next to someone you love, you've fled your life, coming back from somewhere you'd never been, you want to convey how much they mean to you, what it all was for. You convinced them the best thing to do was just run, to just escape instead of face the problems at hand, you talked in a different city, you pretended for one day to forget it all, you were happy, what you always wanted to be. You play this song, it conveys all you wanted to say without saying anything. They understood, nothing more was said. You return to reality, your whole self aches to run again.
(8) I'll Believe in Anything is originally by Wolf Parade but I have two covers by Sunset Rubdown and Her Space Holiday also on my iTunes. It's an awesome song regardless of who sings it, I'll take any, they are all awesome. Brilliant song and a quote that also soothes on those lonely days. The original is the best, although I could change my mind again...
(9) My personal attempt at imparting wisdom. I went home this weekend, spoke to my cousin, she is more interested in talking about sex now she is a gnarly teenager, she wanted to know about my first time. In a moment of familial affection I decided to be completely honest with her and use the story of my first time as a cautionary tale. It ended up being condensed into one bitesize quote. If she loses her virginity in a manner which is less awkward and rubbish than mine then I'll consider my job done. Hopefully she won't let me down.
(10) Withnail. Richard E. Grant, one of the best characters in a film, an alcoholic, narcissistic unemployed actor. His first role in a film, and this from a man who is a complete teetotaller, amazing! It's such a good film and it's use of Hamlet quotes also please me. The whole holiday in the Lakes never ceases to amuse me, and Uncle Monty! So of course nothing beats Richard E Grant flouncing into a cafe and demanding alcohols for his parched throat.
*A guy at work calls me a zombie. It's because I walk around with a dazed expression on my face I assume. It's just how my face relaxes... At my previous job a girl told me in a much nicer manner 'You're just really hard to read.' Hence why no one bothered and I remained on the shelf among the other autobiographies no one has any interest in.
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Love Will Tear You Apart
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
NaNoWriMo
50,000 words. One desperate person.
I set up my new novel. I'm sticking with it, I'm not changing my mind. I wrote a load of ideas out on a napkin at Starbucks the other day. Hopefully my inspiration will not fail me.
If anything I want to achieve the bad sex in literature award for my attempts at 'erotic fiction'. Also I thought I was being funny when I chose it as a genre...
Novel Writing!
I set up my new novel. I'm sticking with it, I'm not changing my mind. I wrote a load of ideas out on a napkin at Starbucks the other day. Hopefully my inspiration will not fail me.
If anything I want to achieve the bad sex in literature award for my attempts at 'erotic fiction'. Also I thought I was being funny when I chose it as a genre...
Novel Writing!
Saturday, 20 October 2012
On the Road
Just seen this film, it's ten to two in the morning, late night showing. Want to review it, can't keep eyes open. Blogging this as reminder!
******
Against my better judgement I'll try and write something coherent now. My honest opinion is the whole thing was a bit muddled, or maybe that was me. I haven't read the book, another one I intend to put on my list, my reading is being massively disrupted shamefully by pokemon and knitting, earning a wage and volunteering, getting lost... And watching films. If I had read the book perhaps I'd have been irked by the changes made, of which I've been told there are a few, but there were those standard Hollywood flairs that irked me anyway. The book itself is supposed to embody the beatnik movement of it's time, the late 40s, early 50s, I know of it, I read Howl. Still doesn't mean I liked the film.
The film was produced by Francis Ford Coppolla, had a modest budget, a fancy foreign director (he did the film adaptation of The Motorcycle Diaries - watched it for Gael Garcia Bernal - it was good) a flurry of famous names and two relatively unknown leads taking us through the core of the story, it was a Sundance selected film and it had the art house film of something that should have touched me deeply. I'm willing to admit that this is my ongoing problem, I tend not to feel what films are trying to convey nowadays, comedies rarely make me laugh and films about people trying desperately to find themselves and battle through life rarely touch me as much as they should. Perhaps I'm jaded but I was confused about the message the film and probably the original text was trying to convey. I won't go into a big diatribe about how I disagree with any of it. I can't say I disagree with it because it's not a clear cut message. The film itself is about as aimless as it's lead characters and that's not really a good thing.
Sal, the main character, is an aspiring writer. It's the age-old adage that in order to write something, honestly, with any authority or emotion, you have to have felt it or lived it yourself. Andy McNab writing about soldiers, Candace Bushnell writing about being a columnist in New York... I'm tired but I could further this list given time... There is also the blunt fact that in fairness authors can pretty much make up whatever the hell they want, they need no authority, no experience, they can just take us on a flight of fantasy. But for it to be coherent, for it to be any good, there always has to be a human element, an anchor of reality, real emotions. That's what author's strive for, being able to transport people to their world, in order to do that it has to be convincing. Don't get me wrong, there are terrible authors who are barely capable of transporting anyone anywhere but their ideas are good and people enjoy that. Getting to my point! Sal is, from my basic understanding and weariness, trying to live, meet people, immerse himself in life, in order to find inspiration to write. The more you see, the more people you meet, the more you know, learn, feel, the more you can write about. He sits for ages with his little notepads when he is about doing something, when he is with others, that's where he learns, thus he scribbles it down.
So Sal meets Dean, he meets a lot of other people but the core of the film is his relationship with Dean. To be honest, it's not even so much about Sal himself, the character isn't really all that fleshed out (aside from his beatnik sensibilities and love for the cotton-pickers of the world), this film is about Dean, Dean's relationships, Dean's philosophy, Dean's life, we start the film hearing about him, end the film thinking about him. As we are putting so much focus on this guy let's hope he's something to get damn excited about. Well Garrett Hedlund is a delight to observe, he has the James Bond style flair at getting with the ladies, and when that's not an option, hey the boy isn't picky. He's a charismatic, beautiful creature with the soul of a poet and the ability to drag everyone and everything crashing down to his destructive level. He's a firecracker, he lives in the moment, he's a thrillseeker, he's bright and he's exciting, but with the light comes dark, good comes the bad, as good as he can be he's also massively disappointing in his actions and what he does, he also has a knack for leaving. So he's a brilliant arsehole.
I don't care about the fact that the film dots about in an unstructured fashion, not so bothered that there is very little in terms of plot, it's just a bunch of stuff that happens after given intervals as the main character essentially lives his life and Dean hurtles in and out of it with his road trips and adventures. Not so bothered by the standard travelling music that plays, I even quite liked the jazz. Didn't care that all the characters, as in all films trying to depict the frailties of humanity, has the characters excessively drinking, smoking and taking recreational drugs, mostly for fun and because, well smoking was as common as anything at the time. It's a Hollywood trope that usually irritates me, that for the characters to be so intense, so interesting, they all have to drink hard liquor and engage in drug use, just because they are so deep, it's the only way they handle it, in this film I'm not bothered. I would say I was a bit bothered by seeing Steve Buscemi in a compromising position... I'll get over it. The overbearing sex in the film was slightly unecessary at points... But hey, perhaps that's just me, it's not often there are multiple threesomes in your popcorn films - well one was a non starter but almost two times!
Here I am trying to puzzle out the message of film. I'll admit, it's life, it's a messy, uncontrollable mass of decisions, mistakes, people and adventures... But was Sal trying to find himself? Was he trying to find inspiration to write? If so did all he find was Dean? A twisted person, someone who had hurt just about everyone around him, he was a whole lot of fun, but wasn't what Sal wanted to find something within himself to write? Did he? Because all the film conveyed was him somewhat using Dean as his inspiration. I've always deeply believed that to write something it has to come from within ourselves, somewhere deep down, we have to understand ourselves as a person, knowing someone else is... I don't want to say easy, because you can fill in the gaps if there are any, to know yourself completely is a tougher challenge. That's not what this film is about, the writing part, but as someone who is trying to write, or least believes one day she'll send something to a publisher that she thinks is good enough... Ah crap. My train of thought has evaporated. I'll cave. Sal didn't need to know himself, he knew Dean, he wrote what he knew, that was Dean, Dean was a pretty damn interesting subject. Way more interesting than him it would seem, or the road, why am I moaning about all this?
Ok so through all this I have failed to address the actual components of the film, the actors, I always give a bit of my opinion on them. Hey go figure, Kristen Stewart can smile, she can sing, she can do sex scenes somewhat convincingly, good for her, I didn't hate or love her performance, she did what she could with what she was given, I'm not going to complain about it, plus even with her downward curve of a mouth, she is quite pretty, the camera at least loves her. Then there is the revelation which is Garrett Hedlund, playing the lead Dean, I could list some superlatives to describe how impressed I was by the guy, he was a sight to behold in every scene, he managed to convey the enigmatic, incandescence of whatever Dean was supposed to be, best part of the film apart from probably the cinematography. The other lead, Sal, was played by Sam Riley, now this guy has already played Ian Curtis, something he did very well, I expected great things from him, he didn't disappoint, even though the character was quite a thinly drawn mask of an author, he was still very good. Kirsten Dunst also made an appearance but for the life of me I can't say anything was remotely memorable about her aggregate ten minutes of screen time, shame too because she is usually quite a reliable source of entertainment; she just had so little to work with, again. Amy Adams popped up, as she did in every film that was advertised at the cinema, she was a bit ker-azy, Viggo Mortensen made an appearance, took his trousers off and took some drugs while he was at it. Elisabeth Moss was about too, along with the aforementioned Steve Buscemi, some seriously fun casting, but it didn't detract from the overall aimlessness of the film.
It's fair to say I'm probably just nitpicking, it's creeping towards dawn and I'm not in the most forgiving of minds. For a film to mean something, anything, it has to transcend the doldrums of life, it has to give us something to think about, a message, a reason, why does it exist? What is it trying to say? That the more exciting, bright and creative a person is the more destructive, dark and suicidal they are? That the road is the place to find yourself? That life is mess and you live and you learn? Being a beatnik author is hard graft! Perhaps someone should just smugly smile at me and say 'It's just too deep for you.' Then I'll put a bag over my head and walk off. I dunno... It wasn't a bad film. It wasn't the best either. It'll fall into the category between mediocrity and memorable, I'll get round to reading the book before I judge it much more. It was long and I'm tired, it's past 3am and I'm all out of words that might come together in sentences of any coherence. I think I've rambled enough. I bid you adieu.
******
Against my better judgement I'll try and write something coherent now. My honest opinion is the whole thing was a bit muddled, or maybe that was me. I haven't read the book, another one I intend to put on my list, my reading is being massively disrupted shamefully by pokemon and knitting, earning a wage and volunteering, getting lost... And watching films. If I had read the book perhaps I'd have been irked by the changes made, of which I've been told there are a few, but there were those standard Hollywood flairs that irked me anyway. The book itself is supposed to embody the beatnik movement of it's time, the late 40s, early 50s, I know of it, I read Howl. Still doesn't mean I liked the film.
The film was produced by Francis Ford Coppolla, had a modest budget, a fancy foreign director (he did the film adaptation of The Motorcycle Diaries - watched it for Gael Garcia Bernal - it was good) a flurry of famous names and two relatively unknown leads taking us through the core of the story, it was a Sundance selected film and it had the art house film of something that should have touched me deeply. I'm willing to admit that this is my ongoing problem, I tend not to feel what films are trying to convey nowadays, comedies rarely make me laugh and films about people trying desperately to find themselves and battle through life rarely touch me as much as they should. Perhaps I'm jaded but I was confused about the message the film and probably the original text was trying to convey. I won't go into a big diatribe about how I disagree with any of it. I can't say I disagree with it because it's not a clear cut message. The film itself is about as aimless as it's lead characters and that's not really a good thing.
Sal, the main character, is an aspiring writer. It's the age-old adage that in order to write something, honestly, with any authority or emotion, you have to have felt it or lived it yourself. Andy McNab writing about soldiers, Candace Bushnell writing about being a columnist in New York... I'm tired but I could further this list given time... There is also the blunt fact that in fairness authors can pretty much make up whatever the hell they want, they need no authority, no experience, they can just take us on a flight of fantasy. But for it to be coherent, for it to be any good, there always has to be a human element, an anchor of reality, real emotions. That's what author's strive for, being able to transport people to their world, in order to do that it has to be convincing. Don't get me wrong, there are terrible authors who are barely capable of transporting anyone anywhere but their ideas are good and people enjoy that. Getting to my point! Sal is, from my basic understanding and weariness, trying to live, meet people, immerse himself in life, in order to find inspiration to write. The more you see, the more people you meet, the more you know, learn, feel, the more you can write about. He sits for ages with his little notepads when he is about doing something, when he is with others, that's where he learns, thus he scribbles it down.
So Sal meets Dean, he meets a lot of other people but the core of the film is his relationship with Dean. To be honest, it's not even so much about Sal himself, the character isn't really all that fleshed out (aside from his beatnik sensibilities and love for the cotton-pickers of the world), this film is about Dean, Dean's relationships, Dean's philosophy, Dean's life, we start the film hearing about him, end the film thinking about him. As we are putting so much focus on this guy let's hope he's something to get damn excited about. Well Garrett Hedlund is a delight to observe, he has the James Bond style flair at getting with the ladies, and when that's not an option, hey the boy isn't picky. He's a charismatic, beautiful creature with the soul of a poet and the ability to drag everyone and everything crashing down to his destructive level. He's a firecracker, he lives in the moment, he's a thrillseeker, he's bright and he's exciting, but with the light comes dark, good comes the bad, as good as he can be he's also massively disappointing in his actions and what he does, he also has a knack for leaving. So he's a brilliant arsehole.
I don't care about the fact that the film dots about in an unstructured fashion, not so bothered that there is very little in terms of plot, it's just a bunch of stuff that happens after given intervals as the main character essentially lives his life and Dean hurtles in and out of it with his road trips and adventures. Not so bothered by the standard travelling music that plays, I even quite liked the jazz. Didn't care that all the characters, as in all films trying to depict the frailties of humanity, has the characters excessively drinking, smoking and taking recreational drugs, mostly for fun and because, well smoking was as common as anything at the time. It's a Hollywood trope that usually irritates me, that for the characters to be so intense, so interesting, they all have to drink hard liquor and engage in drug use, just because they are so deep, it's the only way they handle it, in this film I'm not bothered. I would say I was a bit bothered by seeing Steve Buscemi in a compromising position... I'll get over it. The overbearing sex in the film was slightly unecessary at points... But hey, perhaps that's just me, it's not often there are multiple threesomes in your popcorn films - well one was a non starter but almost two times!
Here I am trying to puzzle out the message of film. I'll admit, it's life, it's a messy, uncontrollable mass of decisions, mistakes, people and adventures... But was Sal trying to find himself? Was he trying to find inspiration to write? If so did all he find was Dean? A twisted person, someone who had hurt just about everyone around him, he was a whole lot of fun, but wasn't what Sal wanted to find something within himself to write? Did he? Because all the film conveyed was him somewhat using Dean as his inspiration. I've always deeply believed that to write something it has to come from within ourselves, somewhere deep down, we have to understand ourselves as a person, knowing someone else is... I don't want to say easy, because you can fill in the gaps if there are any, to know yourself completely is a tougher challenge. That's not what this film is about, the writing part, but as someone who is trying to write, or least believes one day she'll send something to a publisher that she thinks is good enough... Ah crap. My train of thought has evaporated. I'll cave. Sal didn't need to know himself, he knew Dean, he wrote what he knew, that was Dean, Dean was a pretty damn interesting subject. Way more interesting than him it would seem, or the road, why am I moaning about all this?
Ok so through all this I have failed to address the actual components of the film, the actors, I always give a bit of my opinion on them. Hey go figure, Kristen Stewart can smile, she can sing, she can do sex scenes somewhat convincingly, good for her, I didn't hate or love her performance, she did what she could with what she was given, I'm not going to complain about it, plus even with her downward curve of a mouth, she is quite pretty, the camera at least loves her. Then there is the revelation which is Garrett Hedlund, playing the lead Dean, I could list some superlatives to describe how impressed I was by the guy, he was a sight to behold in every scene, he managed to convey the enigmatic, incandescence of whatever Dean was supposed to be, best part of the film apart from probably the cinematography. The other lead, Sal, was played by Sam Riley, now this guy has already played Ian Curtis, something he did very well, I expected great things from him, he didn't disappoint, even though the character was quite a thinly drawn mask of an author, he was still very good. Kirsten Dunst also made an appearance but for the life of me I can't say anything was remotely memorable about her aggregate ten minutes of screen time, shame too because she is usually quite a reliable source of entertainment; she just had so little to work with, again. Amy Adams popped up, as she did in every film that was advertised at the cinema, she was a bit ker-azy, Viggo Mortensen made an appearance, took his trousers off and took some drugs while he was at it. Elisabeth Moss was about too, along with the aforementioned Steve Buscemi, some seriously fun casting, but it didn't detract from the overall aimlessness of the film.
It's fair to say I'm probably just nitpicking, it's creeping towards dawn and I'm not in the most forgiving of minds. For a film to mean something, anything, it has to transcend the doldrums of life, it has to give us something to think about, a message, a reason, why does it exist? What is it trying to say? That the more exciting, bright and creative a person is the more destructive, dark and suicidal they are? That the road is the place to find yourself? That life is mess and you live and you learn? Being a beatnik author is hard graft! Perhaps someone should just smugly smile at me and say 'It's just too deep for you.' Then I'll put a bag over my head and walk off. I dunno... It wasn't a bad film. It wasn't the best either. It'll fall into the category between mediocrity and memorable, I'll get round to reading the book before I judge it much more. It was long and I'm tired, it's past 3am and I'm all out of words that might come together in sentences of any coherence. I think I've rambled enough. I bid you adieu.
Friday, 19 October 2012
Vox Celeste
Spent the day at the CAB, the morning was alright, everyone in my face-to-face were just facing debt problems but the afternoon on the phones was heartbreaking. There was a woman who had lost a lot of money due to no fault of her own, dodgy company, and she had to borrow off her grandparents and she felt terrible and cried about it. She was my age and I felt so bad for her. Managed to help her on her way to a small court claim.
Then there was an old woman who's husband had died of a sudden bout of cancer and there were disputes over the will and she was going to lose out on everything because of some greedy so-and-so's, she cried too. It's so hard to maintain any level of composure when people are crying down the phone. I managed to direct her to a solicitor and give her a wealth of information about wills, it didn't seem like enough but I tried with every fibre to give her the most help I could without going against the rules.
I worked at the Samaritans for the briefest of periods but I couldn't handle it, I was 18 and I was hyper-emotional because my sister had... Well there were reasons I ended up breaking down and not being able to continue there. I had mega-flashbacks today. What matters is that I definitely helped both of them and I didn't make things worse.
Then I went for a walk and got lost under a canopy of trees for about an hour, it was relaxing, it helped. There hasn't been a time where I felt so relaxed in a while, just walking, not seeing the cars or the buildings for a little while meant I could have been wherever I wanted, it could have been the park back home. It wasn't but sometimes it's easier to pretend you're anywhere else. Plus there was a load of students playing rugby, thrilling to observe. Good thing was my soundtrack was Deerhunter. Bad thing was I literally got lost and iOS6 maps did not assist me as well as I'd have liked. Luckily with my keen sense of direction and determination I found my way back. Stood at Millenium Square with a big gaping grin of relief and delight, no one walking past knew what was wrong with me. Why am I telling you this? Because I'm still chuffed I found my way back to my apartment without completely losing myself. Plus I didn't cry. Major improvement. Good day.
Friday, 12 October 2012
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