this and that - Viggo gushing, mostly :P
Sep. 22nd, 2007 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
floatingleafOkay, false alarm. I went to the proper American Airlines website, found the same flight I had found through Orbitz, and booked my tickets with no trouble there (and even slightly cheaper to boot). So it's all settled. San Francisco, see you in a month! *bounces*
Also, last night I went to see Eastern Promises again - withakashaelfwitch, to celebrate her birthday (not that we wouldn't have gone anyway...;P). I think I was much more able to focus on the movie itself this time - in Toronto, I was too overwhelmed by the whole festival experience, by having seen the 'real', 'live' Viggo right before the show, by the knowledge that he was actually sitting somewhere across the room with David and the other actors, watching the film just as we were... I was paying a lot of attention to other people's reactions too, for some reason; and I have to say that the festival audience was much more responsive than that of a dull suburban Chicago movie theater.:P I shall never forget the spontaneous applause after the bathhouse fight scene ended, for example (and I never thought I would be moved to clap my hands after seeing something as gruesome as that - but somehow I got the point). Anyway... this time, I was really watching the film, not what was going on around me; and I am even more impressed with it as a result. I think it's on a higher level of artistic achievement than A History of Violence. HoV was clever; this one is brilliant. The subtle psychological interplay between the characters is an absolute delight to watch. Especially when it comes to Viggo and Vincent Cassel. Dear God... all the volumes that these two guys say to each other between the lines. *wipes brow* I anticipate doing a lot of rewinding of their scenes once the DVD comes out.:D
I noticed more little details this time around too; like, for example, that Viggo is speaking Ukrainian, not Russian, when talking to the Ukrainian girl (the difference between the two languages is more about vocabulary than pronunciation; but since Ukrainian is even closer to Polish than Russian is, it's very easy to understand for me as well). And I caught some lines of dialog (both Russian and English) that had escaped me before. It's one of those movies where you discover something new every time you see it. Definitely not a flick to be watched just because of Viggo; though he is the chief magnet here, make no mistake.:P And I don't mean the naked scenes either. They are painful and disturbing, more than anything else. You can't help but notice that he is in amazing shape for a guy his age - and yet, that's not what these scenes are about. At least not to me. Don't get me wrong; I find him mesmerizing in many ways, and am probably more attracted to him on a purely physical level than I ever was to any male in my entire life - but still, his inner depth, intelligence, the subtlety of his acting and the nuances of his facial expressions are much more interesting to me than certain anatomical details below the waist. And yes, I find it irritating how certain interviewers/movie critics seem to focus entirely on the fact that he was naked in this or that scene. So what? That's what an actor does, if a role demands it. It totally pisses me off when I hear someone say that The Indian Runner, for example, had only one scene worth seeing in it. If that's what you think, then well... I'm afraid we're not on the same wavelength. In my humble opinion, The Indian Runner is a great movie, and would still be one if that one scene got edited out. But that's just me. It annoys me when people display such a shallow approach to someone who is anything but shallow. He deserves so much better...
Okay. Seems like this post has totally run away with me, and it's gotten quite late in the process. But I had spent most of the day in bed due to the usual monthly affliction, so now that I have finally dragged myself out, I don't really feel like going to bed again. Unless it's to finish the book I was reading. The Charioteer by Mary Renault. One of her early novels, which I had never read before, somehow assuming that the contemporary stuff she wrote would not be as interesting as the ones based on ancient history. Why on earth I had thought that, I cannot fathom. This woman was a complete genius. She couldn't have written a bad novel if she tried.:) This one is very subtle - a deeply intimate (on a psychological, not physical level) story of a young wounded soldier during World War II, struggling to accept his homosexuality. Very different from her later books... but still a complete literary masterpiece. The things this woman does with language are absolutely astounding. How she totally gets into the mind of every character, no matter how different they are from each other... But then, if she could get into the mind of someone living thousands of years ago, why would she have any trouble with people from her own era? She was gifted with absolute empathy, which to me is a necessary prerequisite for great writing. As well as great film-making, and all kinds of other great creative endeavors. But I think I really need to stop now, or I'm going to have to spend tomorrow in bed as well.:P
Also, last night I went to see Eastern Promises again - with
akashaelfwitch, to celebrate her birthday (not that we wouldn't have gone anyway...;P). I think I was much more able to focus on the movie itself this time - in Toronto, I was too overwhelmed by the whole festival experience, by having seen the 'real', 'live' Viggo right before the show, by the knowledge that he was actually sitting somewhere across the room with David and the other actors, watching the film just as we were... I was paying a lot of attention to other people's reactions too, for some reason; and I have to say that the festival audience was much more responsive than that of a dull suburban Chicago movie theater.:P I shall never forget the spontaneous applause after the bathhouse fight scene ended, for example (and I never thought I would be moved to clap my hands after seeing something as gruesome as that - but somehow I got the point). Anyway... this time, I was really watching the film, not what was going on around me; and I am even more impressed with it as a result. I think it's on a higher level of artistic achievement than A History of Violence. HoV was clever; this one is brilliant. The subtle psychological interplay between the characters is an absolute delight to watch. Especially when it comes to Viggo and Vincent Cassel. Dear God... all the volumes that these two guys say to each other between the lines. *wipes brow* I anticipate doing a lot of rewinding of their scenes once the DVD comes out.:D I noticed more little details this time around too; like, for example, that Viggo is speaking Ukrainian, not Russian, when talking to the Ukrainian girl (the difference between the two languages is more about vocabulary than pronunciation; but since Ukrainian is even closer to Polish than Russian is, it's very easy to understand for me as well). And I caught some lines of dialog (both Russian and English) that had escaped me before. It's one of those movies where you discover something new every time you see it. Definitely not a flick to be watched just because of Viggo; though he is the chief magnet here, make no mistake.:P And I don't mean the naked scenes either. They are painful and disturbing, more than anything else. You can't help but notice that he is in amazing shape for a guy his age - and yet, that's not what these scenes are about. At least not to me. Don't get me wrong; I find him mesmerizing in many ways, and am probably more attracted to him on a purely physical level than I ever was to any male in my entire life - but still, his inner depth, intelligence, the subtlety of his acting and the nuances of his facial expressions are much more interesting to me than certain anatomical details below the waist. And yes, I find it irritating how certain interviewers/movie critics seem to focus entirely on the fact that he was naked in this or that scene. So what? That's what an actor does, if a role demands it. It totally pisses me off when I hear someone say that The Indian Runner, for example, had only one scene worth seeing in it. If that's what you think, then well... I'm afraid we're not on the same wavelength. In my humble opinion, The Indian Runner is a great movie, and would still be one if that one scene got edited out. But that's just me. It annoys me when people display such a shallow approach to someone who is anything but shallow. He deserves so much better...
Okay. Seems like this post has totally run away with me, and it's gotten quite late in the process. But I had spent most of the day in bed due to the usual monthly affliction, so now that I have finally dragged myself out, I don't really feel like going to bed again. Unless it's to finish the book I was reading. The Charioteer by Mary Renault. One of her early novels, which I had never read before, somehow assuming that the contemporary stuff she wrote would not be as interesting as the ones based on ancient history. Why on earth I had thought that, I cannot fathom. This woman was a complete genius. She couldn't have written a bad novel if she tried.:) This one is very subtle - a deeply intimate (on a psychological, not physical level) story of a young wounded soldier during World War II, struggling to accept his homosexuality. Very different from her later books... but still a complete literary masterpiece. The things this woman does with language are absolutely astounding. How she totally gets into the mind of every character, no matter how different they are from each other... But then, if she could get into the mind of someone living thousands of years ago, why would she have any trouble with people from her own era? She was gifted with absolute empathy, which to me is a necessary prerequisite for great writing. As well as great film-making, and all kinds of other great creative endeavors. But I think I really need to stop now, or I'm going to have to spend tomorrow in bed as well.:P
