The Twilight Report - a very long engagement

The Merchant of Venice

Sun, 30 Jan 2005 23:33:00 GMT

Sunday 30 January 2005 11:33PM

Sassy Portia

I went to see The Merchant of Venice tonight up in Rhinebeck. It is a play which you rarely see because of the political volatility contained within, so it is a treat for those of us who like Shakespeare to get to see a modern production, much less a movie with the likes of Al Pacino. I saw the trailers to this movie back over the winter break when I saw A Very Long Engagement and I decided I just had to see it. The question is, does it live up to the expectation?

The adaptation is superb. Michael Radford, who was both the director and did the screenplay, deserves a lot of credit for this. The performances were great, especially Al Pacino as Shlock. Casting was therefore very good; the chemistry of the actors was adequate. The scene where the two unsuccessful suitors "choose unwisely" was hilarious, although much of the humor of the play was under utilized overall. This is justifiable given the dark nature of the adaptation.

What I did not find acceptable was the lighting. Many of the scenes exhibited way too much contrast. One in particular bothered me had Portia and Bassanio in the foreground in complete darkness, with the characters in the background perfectly lit with natural light. The color temperature in many of the scenes was not quite right either. There was a slight blue cast to many of the scenes, and if it had been intentional it did nothing to improve the movie in my opinion.

The play has (probably fairly) been accused of anti-Semitism. Modern productions, the few that have been made, have usually attempted to compensate by making Shylock a more sympathetic character. In this version, following in that tradition, you really do feel sorry for Shylock in the end, and it is hard to see Portia's indictment and the punitive measures applied to Shylock as being "merciful". The Christians in the play seem to have done a good job of ganging up against him, and succeed in the end in taking everything away from him. This is likely to feed the cycle of hate. I think this is a hard play to do in modern times, and I think the director for the most part did a pretty good job.

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tags: a very long engagement, al pacino, chemistry, lighting, michael radford, movie, rhinebeck, the merchant of venice

A Very Long Engagement

Tue, 28 Dec 2004 00:31:00 GMT

Tuesday 28 December 2004 0:31AM

Just got back from A Very Long Engagement, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie and ... who knew? Alien Resurection), and starring Audrey Tautou (Amelie and Dirty Pretty Things). I like the director, and would probably see a promising film of his, based solely on his reputation. I must admit, however, that a big part of my wanting to see the film has to do with Audrey Tautou. I think she's hot; and I get a kick out of seeing her smile. Overall, I would rate the film as excellent.

The film is set during and after World War I, and follows Mathilde (played by Audrey Tautou) who searches for he fiancé after the end of the war. He disappears on the front and is presumed killed. The movie is a little bit of a mystery, a little bit of a love story and very much an anti-war film. There are definite similarities to the style in which characters are portrayed in both A Very Long Engagement and Amaelie. The director likes to give characters odd quirks and habits, which I think is fun and can be very effectively. He also uses repetition for humor. Both of these tools were used more in Amelie, where I think it is more appropriate. Aside from this the films are of course completely different in genre and temperament, and it is a credit to the director that he can direct such different types of films and still remain true to himself. I would say the same is true for Audrey Tautou.

The cinematography was superb; obviously employing advanced visualization technologies (computer graphics), not often seen in foreign films. Unlike Titanic, Alien 4 and many movies which use CG to awe, I did not find the CG distracting; mostly, I would say, due to the fact that when employed the scenes were very much about the characters, rather than the environment. This is in contrast to (for example) the flyover of the ship in Titanic, which is totally gratuitous and unnecessary. The film was in color, but the whole film was either filmed with highly de-saturated film, or they modified it digitally. I am guessing the latter, since there was also a pervasive yellow tint to the parts of the film not set in the trenches. Overall, the de-saturated yellow technique had the nice effect of making the whole thing look like a very old black and white photograph. The war scenes are reminiscent in a very shallow technical way of the opening of Saving Private Ryan, but the director makes you much closer to the characters. In this respect it reminded me a lot of the tragic end of Gallipolli where it's really heart breaking when you see what happens to the main characters after you have been watching them grow throughout the movie. Unlike Gallipolli, however, the director of A Very Long Engagement paints much more three dimensional characters (and many more of them). They are designed of all different kinds of temperament, moral ambiguity and motivation. So although you are thrust much more immediately into the fray (where as Gallipolli you don't get to it until the very end), it is still very effective. As a period piece, A Very Long Engagement works extremely well, as there are many details and textures which make it feel very real; whether these details are accurate or not, I cannot say.

There were a few confusing moments in the film, but all the loose ends are tied up in the end. Although it is tricky keeping up with the subtitles, I strongly recommend that if you see it you see the subtitled rather than dubbed version (if it is even available). If you like foreign or war films, or just plain good films, I would highly recommend this film.

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tags: a very long engagement, alien resurrection, amélie, audrey tautou, dirty pretty things, france, français, gallipoli, jean-pierre jeunet, movie, period piece, romance, subtitles, titanic, war, world war ii

Sideways

Mon, 27 Dec 2004 00:24:00 GMT

Monday 27 December 2004 0:24AM

Just came back from Sideways directed by Alexander Payne (Citizen Ruth and Election). Best Nebraskan director ever. Observations:

(warning, spoilers...)

I wish I had seen the film with Tyler and could get his take on the film. I do miss going to the Gallagher and paying to see a movie so that we could see the free movie afterward.

Interesting to note that Payne's next film listed on IMDB is titled Nebraska coming out next year.

Now I really want to see A Very Long Engagement. I have to say, looking at the poster, and given the name I was turned off, but the preview I saw before Sideways totally made me want to see it.

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tags: a very long engagement, alexander payne, aperture, citizen ruth, director, election, gallagher, haircut, hollywood, imdb, jerk, mathew broderick, movie, nebraska, sideways, tyler, wine