BBC ShakespeaRe-Told

Attention: My Blog has moved to a new home at www.themovieness.com. Please update your bookmarks and feeds.

The BBC has revisited four Shakespeare plays and set them in modern times.

Much Ado About Nothing is set in a TV studio. Beatrice (Sarah Parish) and Benedick (Damian Lewis) are hosting a local news show. The two of them are fighting, hating and teasing each other non-stop. Meanwhile the pretty weather girl Hero (Billie Piper) is preparing for her wedding to Claude. It all goes wrong at first, only to turn out just right in the end.

The setting works really well in this story. Beatrice and Benedick are great leading characters, the story of Hero and Claude doesn’t really work though.

Macbeth doesn’t translate well into this setting. Joe Macbeth (James McAvoy) is the head chef of a kitchen and is working hard to make Duncan Docherty’s restaurant a success. Ella Macbeth (Keeley Hawes) is persuading Joe to kill Duncan to take over the restaurant.  Although James McAvoy is absolutely great, this episode did not impress me. I didn’t like the performance of the actress who played Ella Macbeth and lost interest somewhere in the middle of the episode even though the original Macbeth is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. What I really liked about it was that the three witches were three garbage men. Great idea!

The Taming of the Shrew is absolutely wonderful. The extremely bad-tempered politician Katherine Minola (Shirley Henderson) marries the quirky Petruchio (Rufus Sewell) for his title a very short time after meeting him. At their wedding he turns up dressed in woman’s clothes. Minola fears that her reputation will be ruined. On the honeymoon Petruchio has set out to tame the overly aggressive Minola and treats her like dirt. When his best friend comes to join them, he manages to bring peace to the couple and make them realize that they are both in love.

This is by far my favourite episode. The actors are great. Especially the tiny Shirley Henderson is marvellous.

The setting of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is great. It is at a holiday resort (similar to Center Parks) where Hermia’s engagement to James is celebrated with her parents and close friends. On the first evening Hermia’s true love Zander shows up to take her away. I am not a big fan of the original play, as it is somehow too much like a soap opera for my taste. But they do it here fairly well. Puck is a fun character, the King and Queen of the Fairies are great, but the lead actors are quite boring.

Update

Attention: My Blog has moved to a new home at www.themovieness.com. Please update your bookmarks and feeds.

Unfortunately I have been too busy to write on this blog in the past few weeks, so here are a few films I have seen during that time:

Enchanted

To my surprise, I greatly enjoyed watching this rather silly film. A Disney cartoon Wanna-Be-Princess gets pushed into a fountain by the evil stepmother of her Prince, bringing her into the Real World. Here the Princess meets a grumpy lawyer and turns his world upside down. When her Prince (her true love) comes to take her back home she starts to doubt where her home really is.

It is a cute story with fun characters. Nice Disney entertainment.

Liberty Heights

A group of young Jews are struggling against prejudices in Baltimore, 1954. Against their parents’ will, high school senior Ben strikes up a friendship with a black girl from his class. She introduces him to James Brown and other black artists from the time. Ben’s older brother falls in love with a blonde débutante at a party. This, of course, gets him into all sorts of trouble. Rock’n’Roll, nice cars and growing up in the 50’s (oh, and my favourite: the gorgeous Adrien Brody). Liberty Heights is a wonderful movie and absolutely worth watching.

Hellboy

We watched the first Hellboy on DVD in preparation of the upcoming Hellboy II. It has great characters and a good setting, but I have to say: It’s absolute rubbish. The story is just plain boring.

The Other Boleyn Girl

This is the story of Mary and Anne, the two Boleyn sisters who are presented to King Henry to become his mistresses (one after the other). Obviously, they start fighting over the king. Anne finally succeeds in seducing him to marry her. In order to do this he first needs to break with the Pope, set up the Church of England and then divorce his wife.

This is a fascinating story (although I’ve read that it is very inaccurate) with two beautiful lead actresses (Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson) and gorgeous costumes, but something’s lacking in the film. The characters are not very complex, Anne is very headstrong, Mary weak and Henry easily manipulated. It seems like the king had nothing to do other than entertain his mistresses, the affairs of politics are only mentioned on the side. It was still entertaining to watch.

A Good Woman

Attention: My Blog has moved to a new home at www.themovieness.com. Please update your bookmarks and feeds.

This film is a sweet adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s “Lady Windermere’s Fan”.

Scarlett Johansson is the naive Meg, newly married to Robert Windermere (Mark Umbers). They are spending the summer season at the Amalfi Coast in Italy and having a swell time until Mrs. Erlynne (Helen Hunt) shows up.

Driven away from New York City by jealous wives, she is now mingling with the upper class in Amalfi and forms a close relationship with Robert.

The whole town is talking about the alleged affair but sweet Meg doesn’t notice until her admirer, Lord Darlington, points it out to her. Of course it all turns out well in the end.It is a lovely film for a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Beautiful pictures of Italy and a fun plot. The background characters (mostly elderly men) are especially enjoyable to watch.

Happy Go Lucky

Attention: My Blog has moved to a new home at www.themovieness.com. Please update your bookmarks and and feeds.

Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is a crazy primary school teacher, living in London. She and her housemate Zoe (Alexis Zegerman) are always out for a drink, whistling after some guys, and are definitely, at all times, up for a laugh.

The film doesn’t really have a story; it’s more a random period in Poppy’s life. She takes driving lessons with a very grumpy and possibly mentally unbalanced driving instructor (Eddie Marsan) who ends up falling in love (or lust?) with her. She goes on a little road trip with one of her sisters and Zoe to visit her other sister in Brighton. This sister is expecting a baby and living a life completely different from Poppy’s – with a nice husband in an ordinary house with a garden. Another little episode is about a social worker who comes to talk to a violent little boy at Poppy’s school.

It is a beautiful film even though there is not a whole lot going on. Poppy, though rather exhausting to watch, is charming and entertaining. It is definitely a feel-good film.

Mamma Mia!

Attention: My Blog has moved to a new home at www.themovieness.com. Please update your bookmarks and feeds.

To my surprise, this film is a very enjoyable adaptation of the musical with ABBA songs. It doesn’t really matter that none of the actors are actually singers: it makes it even more fun to sing along with them.

The story is sweet but secondary. It is merely a framework to present the music. 20-year-old Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is living on a Greek island with her mom Donna (Meryl Streep). They are running a shabby hotel together. Sophie wants to get married to her boyfriend but there’s one thing missing in her life: a father. She discovers from her mom’s old diary that there are three possible candidates (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård), so she invites all of them to her wedding to find out which one it is to be. The unexpected arrival of her ex-lovers stresses Donna greatly.

Also part of the wedding party are Donna’s old girlfriends (played by Julie Walters and Christine Baranski); the three of them used to be a girl band in their younger days. They are absolutely hilarious.

Of course there is a happy end, even with a bit of a twist.

Meryl Streep, more beautiful then ever, brings a sort of dignity to this rather silly film. It is astounding how she manages to light up the screen.

The filmmakers (as well as the actors, I suppose) must have had a lot of fun with the costumes, the beautiful scenery and dance choreographies.

All in all it is a purely entertaining film for a fun evening!

The Forsyte Saga (Series Two)

Attention: My Blog has moved to a new home at www.themovieness.com. Please update your bookmarks and feeds.

The story continues (See: The Forsyte Saga (Series One), May 26). Irene is now married to Jolyon Forsyte and they have a son, Jon. Soames Forsyte married a French woman with whom he has a daughter, Fleur.

After a brief meeting as children, Fleur and Jon meet again, by chance, as young adults. It is love at first sight (well, second, really). The gorgeous Fleur turns out to be very much like her father, head-strong and possessive. She decides they should keep their relationship a secret and that they should elope to Scotland.

When Irene and Soames find out about the love between their children, they do everything to prevent a relationship. Jolyon dies and everything changes. Jon sides with his mother, whereas Fleur wants to stick to the original plan.

It is really great to watch the second series, because you already know the characters and the story of their lives so well. Four heartbreaking episodes. If it is possible, the second series is even more beautiful than the first.

Cassandra’s Dream

Attention: My Blog has moved to a new home at www.themovieness.com. Please update your bookmarks and feeds.

Woody Allen’s new film. (His latest film, Vicky Christina Barcelona, was just shown at Cannes. It will take a while for it to come to the cinemas.) Cassandra’s Dream is the last film of a London trilogy. But I would place it right in the middle: not nearly as good as Match Point (which is fantastic), but definitely not as bad as Scoop (which is simply not good).

Two brothers, Ian and Terry (played by Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell), are having serious financial problems and turn to their rich uncle (the wonderful Tom Wilkinson) for support. He is more then willing to help the boys out: “Family is the most important thing in life,” he exclaims. There is just one small favour he needs in return. Uncle Howard wants the two to “get rid of” a business relation who is threatening to disclose facts that would mean ruination for him. How far would you go?

McGregor and Farrell really make the film. They are hysterically tragic. Two failures looking for a bit of happiness in this world. There is just no way not to love them.

(Photo: Ness/ London 2007)

The Forsyte Saga (Series One)

Attention: My Blog has moved to a new home at www.themovieness.com. Please update your bookmarks and feeds.

The story of the Forsyte family is entwined in six episodes. Marriages, break-ups (even divorce!), love, hate, despair, all the good stuff! As my dear friend says, hours and hours of Victorian fun. Based on the book by John Galsworthy.

Soames Forsyte (Damian Lewis) falls in love with Irene Herron (Gina McKee). Here the drama starts. Irene is not in love with Soames, but marries him against her better judgement (for he is rich and she is poor).

After a few years she falls in love with someone else (a rather handsome fellow by the name of Phillip Bosinney). Obviously she has to steal him away from an engagement with her best friend (and cousin via marriage) June. Unfortunately their life together is ended by a rather inconvenient accident before it can even begin. This leaves Irene homeless (for she has already left her husband) and Soames son-less. As luck will have it there is the other side of the family, where several generations of Jolyon Forsyte’s (one of them played by the great Rupert Graves), can look after the beautiful Irene, although Soames’ obsession with her does not make her life easy.

This series is a must for those who like to lose themselves in a costume drama with intrigues, betrayal and love affairs (such as me!).

Irina Palm

Attention: My Blog has moved to a new home at www.themovieness.com. Please update your bookmarks and feeds.

Maggie, a fifty-year-old widow, gets caught up in the sex trade. Her grandson is very ill and the family has no money for his treatment. She finds herself wandering the streets of London (after several attempts of getting a job) and randomly walks into a club called “Sexy World” with a sign “Hostess wanted”…

The film is a lot more subtle then what its synopsis suggests. It is actually surprisingly witty and charming. Marianne Faithful’s performance is astounding. The horror in her face when she goes to work as Irina Palm is wonderfully touching and comical. This is an immensely moving and absolutely enjoyable British comedy.

(Photo: hjw223/flickr)

Sense and Sensibility

Attention: My Blog has moved to a new home at www.themovieness.com. Please update your bookmarks and feeds.

“Can the soul really be satisfied with such polite affections?

To Love is to burn, to be on fire. Like Juliet or Guinevere.”

I just love this film. And I’ve seen it at least 200 times. Somehow I kept thinking about the scene where Marianne finally gets the letter from Willoughby, saying that he cannot be with her. Her sister Elinor asks, “Did he ever tell you he loved you?”, and Marianne answers “Yes. No. It was every day implied but never declared.” It’s just so tragically beautiful. Obviously I had to re-watch the entire film to see that one scene.

Oh, I do miss England and its fine countryside and magnificent estates.

Fun Fact: Emma Thomson is now married to Willoughby (Greg Wise). Who can blame her? Let’s face it, who didn’t fall in love with him?

(Photo: Ness. Montacute house in Somerset, some of the scenes were filmed there.)