I wasn’t sure if I would love this movie or hate it. In the end, it was something in the middle. Sofia Coppola tells pretty much the same story in every movie, a lonely girl overwhelemed by her world. And her movies tend to be much more about mood and images than about plot. Her first film, The Virgin Suicides, was my favorite. The melancholy mood and misty camera work really work with the suburban gothic story. I had liked the book by Jeffrey Eugenides, and I was pleased that the film captured the mood of the book. With Lost in Translation, I found it very captivating in the theater and got swept up in the movie’s slow rhythm and introspection. When I saw it again at home, I found the main character whiny and annoying.
In Marie Antoinette, Coppola is again telling a story about a girl who is in over her head. The situation of the young queen is bizarre and impossible—she’s forced to leave everything she knows to go marry a prince she’s never met. She creates sort of a fantasy world of extravagance which then becomes part of why the French people turn against her.
I didn’t mind the lack of specific historical event details—that’s not really what you look for in a Sofia Coppola movie. The scenes filmed at Versailles were incredible—amazing to see what it must have really been like. But sometimes it seemed like Coppola got a little carried away with the clothes, shoes, pastries, etc. And while I left the film feeling sympathetic towards Marie Antoinette, that she was primarily a victim of circumstances, I also thought that she seemed like a beautiful little idiot, sort of a historical Paris Hilton.
Comparing this movie and the book it’s based on really illuminates some of the strengths and weaknesses of film and writing. In the book we see everything entirely through Barbara; the reader is in her head. In film, the viewer can’t be in a character’s head in the same way. Barbara’s narration is there in voice-over, but as viewers, we still see her from the outside. The ending of the book is much creepier than the movie—I suppose they wanted the movie to have a friendlier ending with a bit of hope.
The film succeeds in showing some of the other characters in a way that make them much more sympathetic than in the book. Sheba’s affair with the student seems much more believable when we see it happen than in the book where we hear about it only from Barbara. Richard, Sheba’s husband, is much more sympathetic in the movie, probably at least in part because he’s played by Bill Nighy.
I was pleased that the movie clocks in at only an hour and a half. It’s a spare, concise novel and the movie is as well. Since every movie these days seems to run over two hours, it’s a relief to see one that doesn’t have a single extraneous scene.
I liked this a lot better than I thought I would. Jack Nicholson hams it up as usual, but the rest of the cast is great. Matt Damon is always a little more interesting as a bad guy—I find him a little cardboard as a hero. And Leonardo DiCaprio is finally starting to lookold enough to play an adult. The story line was neither overly simplistic nor complicated to the point of being impossible to follow. I’m interested to compare it to the Hong Kong movie it’s based on, Infernal Affairs. Time to add it to the Netlfix queue.
The funny thing about watching The Departed is that multiple scenes were shot in my neighborhood, even though the movie takes place in Boston. There’ve been a lot of film crews in Greenpoint the last few years since NYC started the big tax break for filming here. I think they’re using Greenpoint as the generic “working class” neighborhood. I had the same issue in Garden State, when the lead character works in an “LA restaurant” that was filmed in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, near my former apartment.
We went to see Casino Royale the day after Thanksgiving, just like all the other families and groups of teenagers looking for obvious Hollywood fare. Ahh, the suburbs!
I enjoyed the movie, though it seems that they made a Bond movie for people who aren’t impressed with Bond movies. This Bond gets his hands dirty when he kills. He doesn’t fuss over the specifics of martini shaking or stirring. And for a little while, the audience is even left wondering if his sexual prowess survived a run-in with torture. Definitely a new kind of Bond, and likely over-due, as the series has become more of an object of mocking than an exciting action franchise.
Unfortunately, it’s way too long. I think that all B-movies (anything that’s not an epic drama, really) should come in under 2 hours. Casino Royale is 2 1/2 hours, with a boring poker scene in the middle that seems to go one forever, obviously intending to appeal to all the people (whoever they are) who watch poker on tv.
My mom came to visit this weekend. Unfortunately, she flew in during a major storm and her flight got delayed and then delayed some more and then diverted to Philly. She was supposed to arrive at 6 p.m. and ended up not getting in until 2:00 a.m. on Friday.
Not surprisingly, we were all exhausted the next day. I played hooky from work and we slept in and then ate lunch in a little French cafe in Williamsburg. We did some walking around the city—we saw Vincent D’Onofrio filming Law & Order Criminal Intent by Madison Square Garden and had custard at Shake Shack (though they didn’t have the pumpkin pie custard—a big disappointment. It was a beautiful sunny fall day. It had been gray and rainy for a week, and you could feel walking around that the city was in a good mood. We came home, at some leftover tamales, and taught Mom how to play Hot Dice, our new favorite game. I can’t wait to teach everyone how to play at Christmas.
On Saturday, we decided to go see “Volver,” since Mom doesn’t get to see foreign films in the theater in Lubbock. I would highly recommend it—it might even top “Talk to Her” as my favorite Almodovar movie. I loved the colors and the styling. Penelope Cruz was styled like Sophia Loren from the 60s—she looked great and gave a great performance. She should never be in another American movie again—she is so much better in Spanish.
On Sunday, we watched the last Nascar race of the season. I am a huge Nascar fan. The exciting part was that I won our fantasy Nascar league. I started the season back in February doing badly, but I improved over the season. I passed my uncle a few weeks ago for the lead and barely held on for the win in the last race. Now I have a little trophy on my Yahoo page!