Hi Mark and Franklin! Calling all "period" film buffs: GO SEE/RENT "GOSFORD > PARK", two or three times if necessary (you won't be alone) - ah, > nuance and it's subtle,baffling, alluring attractions! To Colin I will say that if you left before the last hour of 'Gosford Park', you missed the best part of the movie, imo. I like Altman too and I liked 'Gosford Park' but I thought it was a tad too long on exposition. It took way too long to get to the murder for my taste.
I agree with this assessment 100%. The movie has this languid pace that took a little longer to unravel, but in seeing the whole movie, one appreciates the slowness of the first half. Similarly, Akira Kurosawas DREAMS took off brilliantly and stumbled a bit in some succeeding vignettes, but the last episode more than made up for the langourous way other vignettes were paced. I still think the movie is best viewed more than once to see the subtler things we usually dont see in the first viewing. More than that, GOSFORD PARK is about power relations that exist between the moneyed and those whose station in life was to serve and be obsequious to their masters. Remember that camera pan where we see Kristin Scott Thomas in her boudoir and how it went down and panned the servants quarters and how things were the same but executed differently. I thought that was one manifestation that the director knows his subjects quite well and how with very little special effects, it managed to accurately depict people caught in their unguarded moments. > Helen Mirren doesn't really get a chance to shine until the very end. And how she showed her range as an actor, bringing the exact hues of resentment, anger, hatred and unrivalled devotion and even fascination for her master. This kind of acting reminded me of Anthony Hopkins speech in AMISTAD and Miranda Richardsons heart-wrenching vitriol-addled speech towards her unfaithful husband in DAMAGE. > Emily Watson is great This woman is amazing! She can be a homeless actress with a limited range in Tim Robbins CRADLE WILL ROCK, then metamorphose into a troubled cellist in HILARY AND JACKIE, then be part of an Irish community in Jim Sheridans THE BOXER. And even in the uneven RED DRAGON, her onscreen chemistry with Ralph Fiennes sizzle it nearly approximates art-film proportions! I have not watched PT Andersons PUNCH DRUNK LOVE yet, though I heard Bob M. had something positive to say about it, but I am sure, just as Adam Sandler shone in that movie, the quiet intensity of Emily Watson in that film helped tremendously. > Maggie Smith is as well. I respect this womans range, from an uptight spinster in ROOM WITH A VIEW to showing different facets of loneliness in THE LONELY PASSION OF JUDITH HEARNE. And even in such big and small films, she managed to chew the scenery: SISTER ACT, THE SECRET GARDEN, THE DIVINE SECRETS OF YA-YA SISTERHOOD. In GOSFORD PARK, her snobbish curmudgeon character with a penchant to mutter under her breath her disapproval of the crassness of situations and that of the unempowered was compulsively watchable. Helen Mirren might have the films highlight, but Maggie Smith was delightful. In a freakish kind of way, she lights the screen everytime shes in it (Geena Davis was also that in THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST). > 'Short Cuts' comes close to being as successful on that level although there are some things about that movie that I didn't like at all. I thought some of the female nudity was gratuitous. But I loved seeing Annie Ross! She must have done something to make her voice so raw in that one. When I saw her with Jon Hendricks a few years ago, she didn't sound anything like that! I like SHORT CUTS too but maybe in a different way than most critics. The interweaving lives of people, the jazzy score and Annie Ross presence were already worth the price of admission. Annie Ross horn-like voice made jazz singing classy and (may I say it?) accessible. Naah, it was good singing, period. I like Jennifer Jason Leighs character despite (or maybe because) of the fact that she is an outsider in a society because of the nature of her job. She creates this magical and virtual world for people who seek lusty releases, while changing diapers and doing the most common of things common people do except that her shoulder is cradling a phone. SHORT CUTS has its flaws just like PT Andersons MAGNOLIA, but the authentic renderings of common and ordinary life are extraordinary and certainly uncommon in recent films. > 'The Player' really does do a wonderful job of skewering the Hollywood star-maker machinery. I saw the re-constructed 'Touch of Evil' a year or so ago (re-edited using Orson Welles' written instructions) and the long beginning shot in that movie kinda dwarfs Altman's beginning of 'The Player', imo. I agree with this. THE PLAYER paid a reverse kind of hommage to Orson Welles classic film noir, but did it in ways that lambast and honor it at the same time. Its like saluting a period piece of art for its influence in filmmaking in succeeding decades, but at the same time, deconstructing the very elements that made it a classic. THE PLAYER seems poised to be remembered many years later after people forgot about other films. > Another one I love is 'Cookie's Fortune'. Kind of a different one for Altman. Tells a pretty straight-forward, albeit quirky, story. It was great to see Patricia Neal onscreen and Glenn Close and Julianne Moore were both fun to watch. I was in a production of 'Salome' in college (played Jokannon aka John the Baptist) so the church production that Glenn Close's character directs was especially funny for me. I also had fun with COOKIES FORTUNE, though Patricia Neal was really the heart and soul of the movie. I cant comment on Altmans rendering of contemporary American South, but this film, though not lacking in local color is quite unlike other films about the South I watched in recent years, notably John Sayles PASSION FISH. I am not sure if Altman was able to get inside the very south of the South but in my untrained mind, I thought it resembled a bit Lasse Hallstroms awful SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT. But I like the over-the-top performance of Glenn Close and Julianne Moores slightly dim-witted sister. And the rehearsals for SALOME were quite funny though I am not sure if Altman meant it to be so. Overall, I enjoyed the film as much as I got lost in the accent. > And speaking of Oscar Wilde, I played a butler in this one back in college! This is a delightful, perfectly cast version of the play. Dame Judy as Lady Bracknell, Colin Firth as Jack/Ernest, Rupert Everett as Algernon, Reese Witherspoon as Cecily - what better actors to play these parts? Funny, but in college I read THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST and I thought it was crackling with wit and I imagined Wildes lines will give the actors the opportunity to sparkle. The recent adaptation was quite what I imagined it and enjoyed it thoroughly. However, such lines as you are the personification of absolute perfection were not given the spark and chutzpah I imagined, and though I like Reese Witherspoon since MAN IN THE MOON and ELECTION, she simpers a bit. Colin Firth and Rupert Everett were perfectly cast, though I have to admit that Kenneth Branagh might also do well in the Algernon role. I am half in love with Frances OConnor in all her movies and she is a combination of fire and restraint here something relatively easy to do but quite difficult to actually pull off. But Dame Judi Dench was at her stentorian best as Lady Bracknell. There is no stopping this woman at this point in her acting career. From IRIS to 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD to MRS BROWN. Next weekend I am watching the earlier version of TIOBE with Dame Edith Evans as Lady Bracknell and Michael Redgrave. > The same producers did 'An Ideal Husband' a few years ago and it was also wonderful. Rupert Everett seems to be the perfect modern-day mouthpiece for Oscar Wilde. And Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchett are two of the most talented actresses of this generation, imo. Watched this one too, but I didnt know that the makers of TIOBE were the same people who did AN IDEAL HUSBAND. Julianne Moore is good, and Cate Blanchett underacted to brilliant effect. Even Minnie Driver was good. >> > > Franklin> Judy Davis! What a gal! She was amazing playing Judy Garland in 'Life With Judy Garland', a tv movie that was adapted from Lorna Luft's book. She was also pretty convincing as Lillian Hellman in 'Hellman and Hammett'. Much as I hate to say it, she was probably a lot closer to what the real Hellman was like than Jane Fonda was in 'Julia', much as I love that particular movie. Judy was also good as George Sand in 'Impromptu'. I wonder if she likes playing parts based on real people's lives? I watched ME AND MY SHADOWS: LIFE OF JUDY GARLAND and I was knocked silly by Judy Davis! I was with two other friends and one of them is a Judy Garland fan. She told us that if one is familiar with Judys cinematic and recording oeuvre, that we will be even more amazed that the Carnegie Hall concert of Judys was replicated exactly as it was that historic night, even the dialogues. As I am unfamiliar with the said recording, my friend imitated Judys stay all night spiel. It was eerie how this friend can imitate exactly the voice, until she told me that if one listens to the actual recording, one cant help but copy it. The girl who played the young Judy was precocious, yes? She reminded me of talented child actors in European films. After the film I get an appreciation of Judy Garlands tragic but talented life. I read somewhere that when Benny Goodman was asked about his favorite singer, he mentioned Judy Garland. > I think what you say is true with some actors, I do think there are truly brilliant people who can sometimes transcend the material they have to work with and even a mediocre or bad director. Meryl Streep comes to mind as does Bette Davis. I always associate Meryl Streep in films that rise above the dross of films in cineplexes and she always act with honesty and technical brilliance. Although she was a bit miscast as Clara in THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS, she was good in almost all films she appeared in, from IRONWEED to SILKWOOD to OUT OF AFRICA. And this lady proved she can do comedy too (black comedy at that) in SHE-DEVIL and DEATH BECOMES HER. But the one film I like was this underrated movie called DEFENDING YOUR LIFE. Here, with no accent and no real person to inhabit a role, she basically played herself an all-capable and perfect mother. Her joyous face everytime she sees Albert Brooks in the movie was so glowing in a radioactive kind of way. I can imagine her as the real mother in the RIVER WILD and even as the rich mother in BEFORE AND AFTER. In ONE TRUE THING she tugged at our emotional heartstrings anyone who was not moved by her impassioned plea to Renee Zellweger in the bathtub scene, is without heart. > I watched the HBO film 'Wit' last weekend which is practically a one-woman tour-de-force from Emma Thompson. I was amazed by that performance. I too liked this actress. She is so gifted its almost impossible to see her in a movie where shes not good. Oh, come to think of it, JUNIOR with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny De Vito didnt come out well for me. Her brand of humor did not have onscreen comic chemistry with the two. But shes good in DEAD AGAIN, HOWARDS END, and check out her heartbreaking face as her train (or bus?) was moving away in THE REMAINS OF THE DAY. Could anyone play a better lawyer than her in IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER? And even if she looked a day old than Elinor in SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, she was excellent in it. > I haven't seen Russell Crowe in too many movies but he seems to be another actor with true brilliance. Saw him in ROMPER STOMPER and PARIS IS BURNING before he became Hollywood. He was a combination of fragility and strength as a gay son in SUM OF US. And he convincingly played a damsel in distress in the revisionist western THE QUICK AND THE DEAD with Sharon Stone as a Clint Eastwood character. Even Leonardo Di Caprio had fun in his role. Its nice to see the initial films of actors before they become larger than life. I personally feel that Rusell Crowe should have on in THE INSIDER rather than GLADIATOR, but what then what do I know? (Same with Jeremy Irons performance in DEAD RINGERS rather than REVERSAL OF FORTUNE). > Daniel Day-Lewis also comes to mind. I often wonder how is Daniel Day-Lewis in real life? He is so intense and incredibly focused. His Method Acting and choice of movies made him a favorite in my books. Report had it that when he was shooting THE CRUCIBLE, he shunned hotel accommodation and the use of a trailer. Instead, he came a full month ahead of schedule to the location and built a cabin, similar to his character John Proctors cabin, and actually lived there. His performance in this movie along with Joan Allen makes it hard to think of anyone as Puritan Americans other than them. And in his latest movie, GANGS OF NEW YORK, he was convinced by Martin Scorsese from semi-retirement to play a racist one-legged American. When he asked Scorsese why he was singled out for the role, Scorsese repled: you are the only one I know who understands the nature of anger. This was evident in the filming because DDL will throw a knife several meters away and hit his mark bulls-eye. This fascinated as much as alarmed his co-stars. The first time I saw him in Gandhi as a cruel Englishman, I never would have thought he could give unforgettable performances as a gay man in MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE, as a native American in THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, as a repressed society man in AGE OF INNOCENCE and as a man wrongfully accused in IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER. Trivia: his first screen appearance was in this Glenda Jackson movie SUNDAY BLOOODY SUNDAY. > Sir Anthony Hopkins has played everything from Richard the Lionheart to Hannibal the Cannibal to Richard 'Tricky Dicky' Nixon (not to mention Titus Andronicus) and scored high marks in each of those roles. Speaking of 'Titus', May I respectfully say that Anthony Hopkins is a hit/miss thing for me. He has his share of films where his talent reaches existential dimensions (84 CHARING CROSS ROAD, AMISTAD, THE REMAINS OF THE DAY and even in Michael Ciminos DESPERATE HOURS) but his other films, notably HANNIBAL and the recent one with Chris Rock not only wastes his talent, but the materials are not good enough for a man of outsized talent. I know many will disagree with me but though I find his Hannibal Lecter in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS eerie and creepy and very good, I like Brian Coxs Hannibal Lecter in MANHUNTER better. MANHUNTER is the first/earlier version of RED DRAGON and the very first cinematic debut of Hannibal Lecter. 1988 at that. Somehow, Coxs bland eschewal of violence is scarier than Hopkins leery Lecter. > Jessica Lange is another truly fine actress, imo. Beautiful woman. Even more beautiful talent. Her faded Southern belle aura worked well in CRIMES OF THE HEART and EVERYBODYS ALL AMERICAN, but she was quite wrong in HUSH with Gwyneth Paltrow and Johnathon Schaech. The first film I watched her was TOOTSIE, though she was said to have appeared in KING KONG before. She is very good at playing wounded characters like that in COUNTRY, FRANCES and MUSIC BOX (not one of Costa Gavras best work but Lange rises above the material). I hope she does films again. Although not really my type of film, but COUSIN BETTE made full use of her talent and range. > I love movies. Maybe I don't discuss them quite as in depth as Franklin & Joseph but I love to talk about them. No, Mark, you write well and I like it when we are writing as we experienced the movies rather than parroting the critics words (not that critics are necessarily evil but films ultimately should benefit from what academician Joseph Schwaab had to say: polyfocal conspectus the understanding of films in ones own terms and interpretation)! Thanks for sharing! Joseph in Manila
