Friends of mine have been amazed at how long I can talk about the short comings of this film. Their reaction when I finish my diatribe has been to say " I guess you really don't like it".
No, no I don't.
What happened to Julie Taymor the master of cinema who did Frida, Titus and Across the Universe? Watching this film I was struck by the feeling that it was made by someone completely unfamiliar with the medium. That isn't the case, since she did the films I just mentioned.
I'm not sure exactly what happened, but something did. Some where along the way she made a film that seems so technically inept as to not really be viewable.
Having assembled a cast that on paper should have worked she's proceeded to make a film where everyone seems to be alone on screen. For me it was as if she had cut together performances from different films.
Having changed the male lead to a woman she failed to change all of the language and periodically you get lines of dialog that just play wrong.
There are frequent mismatched shots as objects move around, bottle tops appear and disappear and characters seem to be taking readings from different takes or set ups.
I shouldn't have been noticing all the mistakes, I should have been surfing on the plot and the dialog, but Taymor never manages to create any sort of magic. (And any magic is supplied by cheap visual effects.) I don't know. I had such high hopes for the film, but nothing came together. In a weird way the film is best summed up by Ben Whishaw's Ariel who is required to play the part naked- however is forced to go through the most ludicrous gyrations to cover up his privates (The audience I saw this with was roaring with each uncomfortable twist).
2 out of 10 for the performances that work on their own terms- one just wishes that they had been brought together to actually resemble a film.
No, no I don't.
What happened to Julie Taymor the master of cinema who did Frida, Titus and Across the Universe? Watching this film I was struck by the feeling that it was made by someone completely unfamiliar with the medium. That isn't the case, since she did the films I just mentioned.
I'm not sure exactly what happened, but something did. Some where along the way she made a film that seems so technically inept as to not really be viewable.
Having assembled a cast that on paper should have worked she's proceeded to make a film where everyone seems to be alone on screen. For me it was as if she had cut together performances from different films.
Having changed the male lead to a woman she failed to change all of the language and periodically you get lines of dialog that just play wrong.
There are frequent mismatched shots as objects move around, bottle tops appear and disappear and characters seem to be taking readings from different takes or set ups.
I shouldn't have been noticing all the mistakes, I should have been surfing on the plot and the dialog, but Taymor never manages to create any sort of magic. (And any magic is supplied by cheap visual effects.) I don't know. I had such high hopes for the film, but nothing came together. In a weird way the film is best summed up by Ben Whishaw's Ariel who is required to play the part naked- however is forced to go through the most ludicrous gyrations to cover up his privates (The audience I saw this with was roaring with each uncomfortable twist).
2 out of 10 for the performances that work on their own terms- one just wishes that they had been brought together to actually resemble a film.