Movies I Finally Saw: Inception, Hamlet
Jul. 29th, 2011 09:57 pmInception
It was better than I had been expecting given what seemed a lot of hype and![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
louderandlouder's lukewarm response to it. I, too, was doggedly lukewarm for the first half hour or so, but it grew on me. It's not very original, either in terms of the virtual setting or the characters, but it handles its material well and with quirks I haven't seen before, and it manages, by and large, to avoid silliness both in terms of the characters and their relationships and in terms of the special effects.
I want to linger for a moment on the latter. Inception does effects the way they should be done: to lose you in the world of the story rather than to advertise that this film has great FX. In contrast to say, The Cell, which was very pretty, Inception looks refreshingly like the real world, its unreality appearing only when it truly serves the narrative. I admire that.
(I do not, however, understand why it is one of the topmost popular movies on AO3.)
Hamlet (David Tennant)
This is one of the best productions I've seen. In the main--the modern setting notwithstanding--it was a very straight rendering, and I've missed that. It seems like every recent version strives to turn the play into something never done before (which, of course, with a play that's been performed millions of times, you can't). In this production, they seemed to have read the script and to be paying attention to what Occam's razor suggests it is saying. It was nice. All the actors were very solid, very RSC.
The modern setting seemed unnecessary but was not too distracting--except for Ophelia. The image of this girl dressed in her capris, brandishing her brother's condoms, being told that her life will be destroyed if she has sex and loses her "honor" makes no sense. It inspires a giggle akin to Helmholtz's response to Romeo and Juliet in Brave New World. The only thing I can think of is that it might have something to do with internet porn or Facebook, but I'm not too sure.
In other Ophelia news, I continue to wait for a production that really plays Ophelia for the depth of thought it is possible to pull out of her lines, particularly her lines at the play. That interchange belongs to her, and every production I've ever seen mistakenly supposes it belongs to Hamlet.
As for my own reaction, it's been years since I've seen Hamlet, and I'm not sure how much of my response is due to this production, how much to changes in myself, and how much to lifelong Hamlet overdose, but I found my response pitched more toward the real than the cathartic. I kept thinking about what a terribly sad and pitiable family this is to be caught in such dysfunctional spirals, despite genuine love and many virtues in some quarters. If it were real life, it would be such a miserable story. (I also now need to rewatch Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.)
It was better than I had been expecting given what seemed a lot of hype and
louderandlouder's lukewarm response to it. I, too, was doggedly lukewarm for the first half hour or so, but it grew on me. It's not very original, either in terms of the virtual setting or the characters, but it handles its material well and with quirks I haven't seen before, and it manages, by and large, to avoid silliness both in terms of the characters and their relationships and in terms of the special effects. I want to linger for a moment on the latter. Inception does effects the way they should be done: to lose you in the world of the story rather than to advertise that this film has great FX. In contrast to say, The Cell, which was very pretty, Inception looks refreshingly like the real world, its unreality appearing only when it truly serves the narrative. I admire that.
(I do not, however, understand why it is one of the topmost popular movies on AO3.)
Hamlet (David Tennant)
This is one of the best productions I've seen. In the main--the modern setting notwithstanding--it was a very straight rendering, and I've missed that. It seems like every recent version strives to turn the play into something never done before (which, of course, with a play that's been performed millions of times, you can't). In this production, they seemed to have read the script and to be paying attention to what Occam's razor suggests it is saying. It was nice. All the actors were very solid, very RSC.
The modern setting seemed unnecessary but was not too distracting--except for Ophelia. The image of this girl dressed in her capris, brandishing her brother's condoms, being told that her life will be destroyed if she has sex and loses her "honor" makes no sense. It inspires a giggle akin to Helmholtz's response to Romeo and Juliet in Brave New World. The only thing I can think of is that it might have something to do with internet porn or Facebook, but I'm not too sure.
In other Ophelia news, I continue to wait for a production that really plays Ophelia for the depth of thought it is possible to pull out of her lines, particularly her lines at the play. That interchange belongs to her, and every production I've ever seen mistakenly supposes it belongs to Hamlet.
As for my own reaction, it's been years since I've seen Hamlet, and I'm not sure how much of my response is due to this production, how much to changes in myself, and how much to lifelong Hamlet overdose, but I found my response pitched more toward the real than the cathartic. I kept thinking about what a terribly sad and pitiable family this is to be caught in such dysfunctional spirals, despite genuine love and many virtues in some quarters. If it were real life, it would be such a miserable story. (I also now need to rewatch Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.)
