The night before last we watched two hours of palely loitering Romantic poets. Yes, I'm talking about Bright Star. I'm still cross.
I'm so tired of writers and artists thinking that some pretty moments strung together make story. It doesn't. Over two hours (two. whole. hours.) boys write poetry, boys move out, girls move out, boys move back, girls move back, girl kisses boy (that's it--just...kissing), boy coughs, boy dies. The end. Neither protagonist (I use the word loosely) makes any active choice that influence the plot.
I'm thoroughly fed up of wussy emo boys. Throughout the film, I longed for Conan the Barbarian to show up, leaving blood and guts and a few hacked trees strewn about the meadow. Best thing about the film? The cat. The cat was excellent. Especially the bit where s/he whacked a butterfly. Splat. Only bit of action in the whole thing.
A film I'd really like to see this holiday season? Galaxy Quest II: action, humour, affection for the genre, a bit of wow. Most important: shit happens. Meaningful glances are followed either by sex with a tentacled alien or laser fire.
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Huh...I loved Bright Star. To me, things were "happening" the whole time. I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder!
ReplyDeleteI would love to watch Galaxy Quest II! :)
ReplyDeleteMonica, well, mileage varies. But stuff can happen without it constituting a real story or an actual plot. To me it was more prettily filmed slice-of-life. The acting--everyone but whoever played Keats, anyway--was wonderful, costumes great, dialogue, especially in the three's-company scenes, very good...but it wasn't enough.
ReplyDeleteAh, I think I'm going to have to write a post about plot and story.
Stephanie, yes, want!
Nicola -- I was a bit underwhelmed by Bright Star as well, but I figured it was just me. Did you ever get around to watching The Gymnast?
ReplyDeleteDianne, I did watch The Gymnast. It had a hell of a lot more story than Bright Star. It suffered a bit from low production values, and the acting was not top level, but it was a better film.
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ReplyDeleteWell... Fanny Brawne really wasn't the most interesting aspect of Keats' life. Anyone familiar with his poetry will know that there are themes (such as the fact that he anticipated his own death from a very young age) to be found in his work that are much more complex than his relationship with Brawne (or Isabella Jones, for that matter).
ReplyDeleteToo bad. I was looking forward to that one (Bright Star). Probably still watch just for the production stuff.
ReplyDeleteI saw "The Gymnast". I didn't think much of the production values all around, but I didn't mind watching those women fly around in the air one bit. :)
Hard to imagine it could be better than a Jane Campion film. But soon I will see for myself!
ps: Not Galaxy Quest, but I would recommend TRON 2.0 (TRON Legacy)
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't seen the original, you might want to watch it beforehand for contextual reference.
Yeah...I just don't take "slice-of-life" to be a blanket pejorative. De gustibus.
ReplyDeleteYup. Alyx and I hated it too. It filled us with cineloathing: that special sense of self-hatred that comes from having subjected yourself to a cinematic waste of time.
ReplyDeleteKeats deserves better.
Kelly, yes, why do we do this to ourselves??
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