Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/02/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Feb 24, 2004, at 7:37 PM, Tim Atherton wrote: >> I hated it. Every character was shallow and vapid; every motive >> was empty or greedy. And it wasn't even visually pretty. Cf. >> "Girl with a Pearl Earring", which has the same actress. > > Isn't it amazing how all this works - I found the characters all very > human > and the movie visually enthralling - whereas I found Girl with a Pearl > Earing to be overly sentimental, overly romanticized somewhat shallow > eye > candy.... > > I totally wanted to go and photograph in Japan after seeing > Translation :-) I feel better - finally someone else who couldn't stand LiT (John Hurt couldn't either, for that matter). I was looking forward to it, between the press hype and how much I enjoyed _The Virgin Suicides_, but it did absolutely nothing for me. I was frustrated by the extent to which Coppola tipped the balance in favor of SJ/Murray - the actress, photographer, lounge singer were all portrayed badly for no other crime than not being hip enough. And the protagonists had no redeeming facets to their personalities - oh, the horrors of being a bored, privileged white person in a ritzy Tokyo hotel! Had Coppola been less transparent in the manipulation, and if she had given me a reason to identify with her characters, I think it would have worked. But if you dislike or don't care about Murray and Johannsen, it's a loss. In a similar vein, look for Lynne Ramsay's _Morvern Callar_. Much better film (even less plot, more atmosphere), if you have the patience to sit through it (Samantha Morton's Morvern might as well be mute.) > So it goes > tim - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html