The Hours
I saw this movie a day or so ago (time is so hard to judge these days) so therefore I must gush about it! I'm still so drained from watching it. The one thing I'm a little sketchy about is how they kept saying that it as a film which celebrates life. I suppose it does, but not in an uplifting way at all. This ain't Life is Beautiful. This is more along the lines of "Take charge of your own life and happiness, even if it means putting an end to both." (<--That's a Andrew original.)
So what prompted watching this film of films? A crappy day and a course which studies Virginia Woolf. So in my darkened living room I emersed myself in the sheer talents of three of the finest actresses of our generation. The only problem is that now I have to read the book (which I have wanted to do for about 2 years now) as well as Mrs. Dalloway. The issue is that I have no time to do either. Such is life.
Whatever the case, I give this film nine thumbs up (Up where? You decide!). See it, but be warned; a film about the nature of depression can be depressing.
"[Andrew] decided [he] would buy the flowers [him]self, [but thought better of it and instead put a stone in his pocket.]"
posted by Phinneas Q Jacksmith @ 12:18 p.m.
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2 Comments:
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Get that stone out of your pocket, son; I don't want to have to fish you out of a lake.
I'm torn about The Hours. The part of me that's morbidly fascinated with mortality really got into it, and at the same time, I did find it quite life-affirming and uplifting in the way it captured life sort of whisking by, whether you hold onto it now or not. Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep really amazed me.
But I loathed, absolutely loathed the bombastic music, and I was downright offended that someone thought I needed "IMPORTANT SCENE! IMPORTANT SCENE! IMPORTANT SCENE, STUPID! HE'S GOING TO DIE! SHE'S GOING TO WANT TO DIE! LIFE IS FLEETING!" shouted at me every two minutes to stay involved, or to make painfully obvious the themes in both novels.
It's strange, because Mrs. Dalloway really does have a beautiful sense of time flowing rapidly, and every moment really does feel immediate, and, if I may go out on my one limb here, it really does move like a gorgeous symphony, and it does so with subtlty. I get way too riled up about these things, but I felt a bit queasy that someone making a tribute to Virginia Woolf felt he had to underline and triple underline all her themes, missing the delicacy with which she makes it all work.
Ahem.
Shannon Hengen is teaching The Hours in her Writer's Voice class next semester, you know. I dropped that class but I did buy the book first, and have been meaning to read it myself without having the time, so if you want to borrow it (or Mrs. Dalloway), give me a shout!
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