The gif that keeps of gif-ing...
I've been gif-ing stuff like crazy the past few days for my resurrected Tumblr. It's keeping me busy and stops me checking in on social media all the time.
It's amazing how many wee details you suddenly notice in a film when you look at every_single_frame. For example: Exhibit A.
Daniel Craig and Geoffrey Rush in "Elizabeth" 1998
It's 15 years or more since I first saw "Elizabeth" and I've lost count how many times I've watched this film, and yet until I rotated the start of this scene 180° (the camera begins upside-down and gradually rotates to keep you as disorientated as the hanging priest), I'd never appreciated that predatory, almost sexual squaring-up of Walsingham to Daniel Craig's character.
No one who's known me for more than a few years needs to hear this as I've made it abundantly clear for many years, but I fucking love this film's depiction of Walsingham; certainly not historically accurate but it's stunning. The director, Shekhar Kapur, sold Walsingham to Rush as being like "Krishna", who can smile whilst killing if the killing is necessary. I totally see this Walsingham as a fluid, liquid character; he'll become whatever he needs to to achieve his end. Lover, friend, politician; heterosexual, homosexual. It is all a means to an end. And he is feared because of it.
There's a line in "Richard III" by Shakespeare which always pops into my head when I think on him, though perhaps in a less malicious, more "zen" context: "Why I can smile and murder whilst I smile".
Such a great interpretation and the end result is proof that when a visionary, artistic director sets up an equally visionary actor, you end up with something beautiful. I will never get tired of watching this film and it's multiple layers and nuances.