Movie Reviews
Mar. 30th, 2008 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWatched two flicks this weekend, that while I found them very enjoyable also left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth, making me think it truly sucks to be female in this society.
1. Enchanted - via netflix, which was an innovative Disney romantic musical, but seemed to lack something - such as a strong female character that I could remotely identify with. Amy Adams reminds me a great deal of Marilyn Monroe in her performances - I've seen two so far, Junebug and this one, and much like Marilynn before her, am underwhelmed. Couldn't identify with either. The songs? Not an Al Mencken fan. And I'd heard them on the oscars. That said - it is quite humorous in places. James Marsden is hilarious as the fish out of water Prince Charming, who just wants to follow the pain by numbers formula of the fairy tale romance to the letter. And Timothy Spall is quite amusing opposite an animatronic chipmunk - who could talk in fairy tale land but not so much in our universe. The plot's conclusion (the evil Queen Narcissa's descision to kill Dempsey's character and Giselle - when it is more than clear neither is a threat to her throne any more or even relevant - seems a tad silly, make more sense for her to have gone after her step-son, the erstwhile and somewhat dim Prince Charming, but who I am to quibble) doesn't make a lot sense - but it's a fairy tale, so I let that go.
Overall? Worth a rental, but not worth eleven bucks at the movie theater. And I have no clue why the songs got nominated outside of the fact that there weren't that many other original songs to choose from? The ending of the tale - has the women, doing "female" things - the high-powered business woman with her cell phone and NYC lifestyle - gives it up for Prince Charming in the fairy tale castle, while the fairy tale Princess goes to live with the high powered attorney and his kid, designing dresses for children and being the perfect housewife and mother. The woman change their locals, giving up their entire worlds for the men, while the men give up nothing.
The second flick - on TCM, was the classic, 1948, British film, The Red Shoes, which while a bit dated, was quite lovely and oddly gripping in places. It is a bit theaterical - films were back then. Looking at times more like plays than what we are used to today. And the gestures often were more pronounced and melodramatic. The film is a modern (circa 1948) retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale about a dancer who dons a pair of cursed red shoes that compell her to dance constantly, ignoring everything else, until she dies.
Moira Shearer is remarkable in the lead role of Victoria Page - who has the unlucky task of deciding between the love of her life, a composer, and being the best dancer in the world. She meets her love doing the Red Shoes - a ballet that he re-orchestrates and rewrites. While Victoria never really puts on the cursed shoes of the title, they are a metaphor for the impossible choice she must make. To live or to dance. The difficulty I have with the film - is that her lover and husband, the composer, is never forced to make this choice. When he leaves to go on to orchestrate operas and even better music - because the director of the theater believes her dancing is adversely affected by her romance with him, she chooses to go with him and appears to give up dance altogether while his career shines - until years later, when the director asks her to do one more performance of The Red Shoes - on a night in which she is supposed to be attending the premiere of her husbands new Opera. The husband and the director - give her an ultimatium - either come with me now or give this up forever. She can't have both. So torn - she dances away from the theater where she is to perform the ballet and off a balcony to the train that her husband is waiting for below, seemingly compelled by the shoes do so. It is that choice that ultimately destroys her not the shoes, nor the desire to dance as suggested by the title. But rather the desire to be both a dancer and a wife to her husband - something the film suggests she can't do and shouldn't want to do.
Overall? Worth a rental. A fascinating film with an excellent score and fine performances.
1. Enchanted - via netflix, which was an innovative Disney romantic musical, but seemed to lack something - such as a strong female character that I could remotely identify with. Amy Adams reminds me a great deal of Marilyn Monroe in her performances - I've seen two so far, Junebug and this one, and much like Marilynn before her, am underwhelmed. Couldn't identify with either. The songs? Not an Al Mencken fan. And I'd heard them on the oscars. That said - it is quite humorous in places. James Marsden is hilarious as the fish out of water Prince Charming, who just wants to follow the pain by numbers formula of the fairy tale romance to the letter. And Timothy Spall is quite amusing opposite an animatronic chipmunk - who could talk in fairy tale land but not so much in our universe. The plot's conclusion (the evil Queen Narcissa's descision to kill Dempsey's character and Giselle - when it is more than clear neither is a threat to her throne any more or even relevant - seems a tad silly, make more sense for her to have gone after her step-son, the erstwhile and somewhat dim Prince Charming, but who I am to quibble) doesn't make a lot sense - but it's a fairy tale, so I let that go.
Overall? Worth a rental, but not worth eleven bucks at the movie theater. And I have no clue why the songs got nominated outside of the fact that there weren't that many other original songs to choose from? The ending of the tale - has the women, doing "female" things - the high-powered business woman with her cell phone and NYC lifestyle - gives it up for Prince Charming in the fairy tale castle, while the fairy tale Princess goes to live with the high powered attorney and his kid, designing dresses for children and being the perfect housewife and mother. The woman change their locals, giving up their entire worlds for the men, while the men give up nothing.
The second flick - on TCM, was the classic, 1948, British film, The Red Shoes, which while a bit dated, was quite lovely and oddly gripping in places. It is a bit theaterical - films were back then. Looking at times more like plays than what we are used to today. And the gestures often were more pronounced and melodramatic. The film is a modern (circa 1948) retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale about a dancer who dons a pair of cursed red shoes that compell her to dance constantly, ignoring everything else, until she dies.
Moira Shearer is remarkable in the lead role of Victoria Page - who has the unlucky task of deciding between the love of her life, a composer, and being the best dancer in the world. She meets her love doing the Red Shoes - a ballet that he re-orchestrates and rewrites. While Victoria never really puts on the cursed shoes of the title, they are a metaphor for the impossible choice she must make. To live or to dance. The difficulty I have with the film - is that her lover and husband, the composer, is never forced to make this choice. When he leaves to go on to orchestrate operas and even better music - because the director of the theater believes her dancing is adversely affected by her romance with him, she chooses to go with him and appears to give up dance altogether while his career shines - until years later, when the director asks her to do one more performance of The Red Shoes - on a night in which she is supposed to be attending the premiere of her husbands new Opera. The husband and the director - give her an ultimatium - either come with me now or give this up forever. She can't have both. So torn - she dances away from the theater where she is to perform the ballet and off a balcony to the train that her husband is waiting for below, seemingly compelled by the shoes do so. It is that choice that ultimately destroys her not the shoes, nor the desire to dance as suggested by the title. But rather the desire to be both a dancer and a wife to her husband - something the film suggests she can't do and shouldn't want to do.
Overall? Worth a rental. A fascinating film with an excellent score and fine performances.
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-30 08:42 pm (UTC)Indeed and what's so amazing to me is that Moira Shearer never had much of a career in film. She's as good an actress as she was a dancer and yet she only made about 5 - 6 films.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-30 09:06 pm (UTC)One thing I found odd about the movies was...
SPOILER ALERT
...the big finale had Amy Adams picking up Marsden's discarded sword and pursuing the dragon. It was a potentially great female-power-shot moment, but it was edited as a total throwaway. It occurred to me later that they should have set up that scene by having a brief scene or two where Amy Adams sees the daughter practicing martial arts and hears Dempsey talking to her about how great it is for a woman to be strong and powerful and kick-ass. Or something like that. And then they could have really played that moment with the sword at the end. But while the "cynicism is bad" message came through strong, the "woman learning to stand up for herself" message wasn't as clear.
I did love the "cleaning" musical number and thought it was really clever.
Enchanted
Date: 2008-03-31 01:13 am (UTC)With the Red Shoes..I think about what I've read about fairy tales in general. They are ultimately subversive.. whispering tales by the fire that aren't so easy to talk about in other ways.
Re: Enchanted
Date: 2008-03-31 09:47 pm (UTC)Red Shoes was interesting. I've read the fairy tale - some time ago. Fairy tales I think of as the old version of urban legends or horror stories. Both are ways of handling societial and individual fears. Also at the same time, little morality tales of what one should not do. The film was a bit deeper and more subversive than the fairy tale I think.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-31 03:26 pm (UTC)