Comments | swashbuckler332: Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

swashbuckler332

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

Jun 18, 2006 13:05

Nobody, it seems, has ever heard of Stephen Gyllenhaal's 1992 deeply moving film version of Graham Swift's dark novel Waterland; the film starred Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, Ethan Hawke, and a very young Maggie Gyllenhaal. Grant Warnock turns in a spot-on performance of a young Irons, John Heard has a cameo and Cara Buono and Lena Headley both ( Read more... )

carter burwell, film music, reviews

Comments 4

j_d_finch June 18 2006, 19:14:32 UTC

Waterland -- I caught it on cable about a year ago and I was blown away by it. It's a film that easily merits multiple viewings. The way it teters on the edge of tragedy, yet doesn't fall into the abyss is fascinating. As I recall, the scene in the bar between Hawke and Irons (great throughout) was really powerful.

swashbuckler332 June 18 2006, 20:51:40 UTC

I caught the film completely by accident and was very glad that I did, and believe me, multiple viewings only deepen ones perception of the characters and their lives.

Are you thinking of the scene that I think you're thinking of... when Irons passes Hawke off as his son?

The way it teters on the edge of tragedy, yet doesn't fall into the abyss is fascinating.

That's one of the main reasons why I think the film is superior to the novel.

j_d_finch June 19 2006, 00:51:20 UTC

"Are you thinking of the scene that I think you're thinking of... when Irons passes Hawke off as his son?"

Exactly.

It's going to the top of my Netflix queue. Thanks for the reminder of it.

swashbuckler332 June 19 2006, 10:34:34 UTC

I'm just so happy that one can now put it in one's Netflix cue.

The scene you're talking about it exactly what I mean about how each story gives the other context... while one knows that Irons and Cusack don't have any children in 1974, it is the Forties material that illustrates how much it takes for Irons' character to even make such a claim.