Day Three Hundred and Sixty-one - The Shipping News, "Magical Realism... in Newfoundland?"

Even when he makes bad movies (like, say, Father of Invention), I'm willing to give him the benefit of his years, cause he's made tremendous films, played tremendous characters... and he's sort of doing that here.

For the first thirty or so years of his life, Spacey's character Quoyle didn't do much at all, living a failed life and being a disappointment to his abusive father. Then Cate Blanchett comes along. She's a free spirit (or manipulative whore) who works her way into his life, has a daughter with him, and abandons them both.

To recover, Quoyle and his daughter Bunny go with their long lost aunt Agnis (Judi Dench) to their homeland, Newfoundland, where Quoyle sort of falls into a job as a writer at the local newspaper. Oh, let's not forget that Julianne Moore is there as well, tempting Quoyle with a real romance/friendship. And Scott Glenn and Peter Postlethwaite and Rhys Ifans.

Running in the background is a story of the almost magical things that happen to and around the people of town. Bunny is a bit psychic, Scott Glenn is a little immortal, there's a curse, and flashbacks, and thin ghosts, oh my. The house moans and that's important, from a metaphorical standpoint, and it makes for emotive filmmaking. All of it does, really... and while I enjoy it, I can't exactly say it's great.

It's all the little tricks, I think. The small, spiteful things along with all of the tiny, beautiful ones. It feels human, it feels familiar, but it also feels artificial. I do like Lasse Hallström's filmography, but he's always this way. Nothing ever feels natural in his pictures, there's always this gremlin sitting on your shoulder when you watch them telling you it's all real when it's clear to see that in never is, no matter how poetic or quaint or funny is, my suspension of disbelief is always shaky.

Still, despite that fact, I find it a much more enjoyable watch than most movies available on the Instant Stream. Watching Judi Dench piss on her brother's ashes is a delight and seeing Quoyle develop as a writer, no matter how artificial, is still like seeing my own wish fulfilled. I'd expound on that, but really not in the mood for tears.

It's shaky, this film... and I wouldn't give it the Oscar, but I'd probably be pretty close to giving it a nomination.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

4!

Day One Hundred and Twenty-eight - Mrs.Brown, "Those Brits and their Royals... Yeesh."

You know, I think Dame Judi Dench can play anybody.

She's been Elizabeth, Ophelia, Juliet, Lady MacBeth, M, Dame Sybil Thorndike... and Victoria Regina, herself, in this, the film adaptation of VR's mourning years, Mrs.Brown.

She co-stars in it with Billy Connolly who plays Victoria's overly familiar (at least in the eyes of her court) servant John Brown who manages to pull her out of her sadness, but not without some cost both in her relationship with her family, her servants, and her court.

It's a rather interesting period piece that does its best to show both the good and the bad of the British class system and is full of great performances, both by the leads and the supporting crew which includes Geoffrey Palmer, a young Gerard Butler, and Anthony Sher.

I found the subtle manipulations that everyone, even John and the Queen, put forth to try and get their ways, intriguing and thoughtful. It's hard not to hold them both with sympathy as John's mission through his subtle machinations is Victoria's safety and security where Victoria just wants peace instead of the pressing duties she has as the figurehead of the British Empire.

The whole film is very much about the muted emotion and repressed feelings, the things left unsaid, and subtext, even with the occasional raging that Victoria and Bertie express that is decidedly not "stiff upper lip."

But they're royals... you expect that a bit, in private.

Another boon for the film were all the lovely landscape shots of the Scottish Highlands. It truly is beautiful country.

I suppose that I was a little disappointed that there wasn't much of Victorian London. Heck, there really wasn't any of it as the London locations were all small shots of landmarks as opposed to wide shots of the coal-stained air of an industrial age metropolis.

Mrs.Brown definitely leaves you in sympathy for John. Victoria was a bit spoiled, even in the favorable light the movie portrays her with. Sure, John Brown was no angel and was more than a bit presumptuous and disrespectful, acting way above his station... but I'm an American and we applaud those sorts of rogues.

Well, I do, anyway.

As far as muted dramas go, Mrs.Brown is pretty decent. There's barely any passion, but that's excusable because they're British... and the crises and politics are a bit obscure for folks like me who are not entirely (or in any real way) familiar with British history.

Hell, I have enough trouble with my own.

Still, its an interesting piece with a stellar cast. If there's one thing about Shakespearean trained actors, they know their craft, and it's pretty well exemplified here with Dame Judi.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~