Filmography
The Grant Budapest Hotel
We saw this at a local showing, which was in and of itself an experience - we think we were the youngest in the room by at least twenty years, if not thirty. But I digress. It was worth it to see this on a bigger screen, because Wes Anderson's cinematography is stunning - very carefully posed, very miniaturist-style constructions. In fact, the whole film has the feel of those miniature rooms in museums that replicate particular styles of decorating. It's wonderfully placed and artificial, and the characters in each set look like dolls in a diorama. That's half the fun of a Wes Anderson film, of course, the placement.
The plot is wacky and thoroughly improbable, but that's absolutely fine; the characters are quirky and interesting, so you get a sense of their identities in interesting ways. There are unexpected turns and conceits, so things never get boring. It's also a film that expects its audience to fill in a lot of the gaps through assumed knowledge about the politics of Eastern Europe - the country is made up, but the political landscape into which it is inserted feels all too real. The framing narratives work well too, zooming in from an undated present all the way back to the early 1930s.
The acting is, in general, excellent, albeit stylized (as the nature of the piece demands, I think), so if that gets on your nerves, be aware. I quite like it. My only complaint is that the fantastic Adrian Brody, whilst allowed to stride around gloriously in a splendid Chinese dressing gown and later some very atmospheric black leather, isn't given proper Threatening Villain dialogue - instead he just shouts and swears a lot, which felt like a little bit of a waste. Other than that - splendid fun. Although the poor cat.
Orphan Black, season one
I wasn't entirely sure I was going to like this, but it turns out it's TV crack, so there we go. In some ways, it's a smarter, more sophisticated Dollshouse, in that the same actress is required to play different roles - only as she is playing her own clones, she has to be on screen with herself at the same time, which is thus both more of a challenge and more satisfying to watch than the changes of personality in Dollshouse. The pace is good, the conceit is good, the layers of mystery and confusion are good, the switch between genres is good. There's a dose of police procedural murder mystery, a spot of Desperate Housewives, a bit of CSI-science, plus obviously the 'somebody is trying to kill me and I need to find out WTF is going on' underlying subplot. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the handling of the whole issue of motherhood, which felt a bit bolted on in the last few episodes given the other questions of identity and individuality that were playing out too, but never mind! It's good, enjoyable telly, and if sometimes one feels that some of the characters are a bit cardboard-cut-out-y... well, there we go. (The biggest problem there is the laudable attempt to have a lesbian clone who actually has a relationship... it's just a shame the girl she falls for happens to be one of the bad guys so obviously that said clone knows it and goes ahead anyway. Nygh so much fail.) Anyway. We're starting season two, so let's see how that goes.
We saw this at a local showing, which was in and of itself an experience - we think we were the youngest in the room by at least twenty years, if not thirty. But I digress. It was worth it to see this on a bigger screen, because Wes Anderson's cinematography is stunning - very carefully posed, very miniaturist-style constructions. In fact, the whole film has the feel of those miniature rooms in museums that replicate particular styles of decorating. It's wonderfully placed and artificial, and the characters in each set look like dolls in a diorama. That's half the fun of a Wes Anderson film, of course, the placement.
The plot is wacky and thoroughly improbable, but that's absolutely fine; the characters are quirky and interesting, so you get a sense of their identities in interesting ways. There are unexpected turns and conceits, so things never get boring. It's also a film that expects its audience to fill in a lot of the gaps through assumed knowledge about the politics of Eastern Europe - the country is made up, but the political landscape into which it is inserted feels all too real. The framing narratives work well too, zooming in from an undated present all the way back to the early 1930s.
The acting is, in general, excellent, albeit stylized (as the nature of the piece demands, I think), so if that gets on your nerves, be aware. I quite like it. My only complaint is that the fantastic Adrian Brody, whilst allowed to stride around gloriously in a splendid Chinese dressing gown and later some very atmospheric black leather, isn't given proper Threatening Villain dialogue - instead he just shouts and swears a lot, which felt like a little bit of a waste. Other than that - splendid fun. Although the poor cat.
Orphan Black, season one
I wasn't entirely sure I was going to like this, but it turns out it's TV crack, so there we go. In some ways, it's a smarter, more sophisticated Dollshouse, in that the same actress is required to play different roles - only as she is playing her own clones, she has to be on screen with herself at the same time, which is thus both more of a challenge and more satisfying to watch than the changes of personality in Dollshouse. The pace is good, the conceit is good, the layers of mystery and confusion are good, the switch between genres is good. There's a dose of police procedural murder mystery, a spot of Desperate Housewives, a bit of CSI-science, plus obviously the 'somebody is trying to kill me and I need to find out WTF is going on' underlying subplot. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the handling of the whole issue of motherhood, which felt a bit bolted on in the last few episodes given the other questions of identity and individuality that were playing out too, but never mind! It's good, enjoyable telly, and if sometimes one feels that some of the characters are a bit cardboard-cut-out-y... well, there we go. (The biggest problem there is the laudable attempt to have a lesbian clone who actually has a relationship... it's just a shame the girl she falls for happens to be one of the bad guys so obviously that said clone knows it and goes ahead anyway. Nygh so much fail.) Anyway. We're starting season two, so let's see how that goes.