I did a google search on “Jacobean tragedy” and then I thought of it as one of those and I still don’t like it. I never said it didn’t make sense; I said I didn’t like it. It’s obvious even from the title that the characters are supposed to be archetypes instead of realistic characters in a believable narrative. When a movie does all but shine a big flashing arrow with the words “This is symbolism,” I tend to take notice.
I got the impression that I would’ve appreciated the art direction and costume design a lot more if it weren’t all so “Lookit! Lookit! Everything’s green in the kitchen and red in the restaurant!” I mean, clearly the movie was not intended to be subtle, but I still think that if you’re going to be that ostentatious and gleefully pretentious, you should go all the way – so much of The Cook et. al. was just plodding. Yes, the Thief was a great performance and a truly repulsive character, but we could’ve picked up on that in half the time.
Re: “Helen Mirren’s rack”: I’m all for the prurient interest, and a movie usually gets high points from me if it contains nudity. But this was the kind of nudity you see in human reproduction textbooks, and it didn’t really do anything for me down there. I mean, I think even if I were an early-middle-aged British person I wouldn’t be that interested in seeing other early-middle-aged British people in the buff. Even if they weren’t covered in dung or rotting meat. And don’t get me wrong; Helen Mirren is a fine actress, she seems to be game for anything, and she gave as good a performance in the movie as the material would allow. But when I think of her I think of bringing the bad guys into Scotland Yard, or seeing that the servants keep to their stations; I don’t think of getting it on. It’d be like getting excited over “Maggie Smith and Judi Dench in hot dame-on-dame action.”
At least this thread hasn’t had all the “you just didn’t get it” type messages than I’d expected. And I just saw that Netflix has delivered “The Pillow Book” to me; apparently I was on a Peter Greenaway kick while filling out my rental queue. What the hell was I thinking? Hooray; I don’t see nearly enough of Ewan McGregor’s penis these days.
Uh, They don’t kill the little boy, they cut his belly button out! :eek: The scene gave me the willies when I saw it.The film’s a bit difficult for some to watch, but I do enjoy it. An artist friend of mine pointed out that many of the scenes are based on famous paintings, so there’s a myriad of levels to the film. One has to really think to “get” what this movie’s about. Not that “getting it” will necessarily mean that one like’s it.
Even if you hate the film, you have to admit that Nyman’s score is one of the most memorable soundtracks of recent times. The music scoring during Georgina and Michael’s first encounter and subsequent tryst is particularly beautiful and delicate in a way that most typical bombastic movie scores can’t be bothered with.
I’ve always liked the film, myself, more for its stylistic conceits than any supposed metaphor in the plot. It probably is Greenaway’s most accessible work, despite its excesses.
Now, if you want to see a really offensive Greenaway film, check out “The Baby Of Macon”.
Not to hijack my own thread, but I did see The Pillow Book and my final verdict is “not too bad.” In fact, for the first hour or so I was liking it an awful lot; it was when they started trying to deal with a plot in there that it really started to falter.
Granted, there was more than my ideal number of mansex scenes (my ideal number being zero). And I think I saw in one night my entire quota of other men’s penes for the rest of the year. But the movie stayed pretty interesting throughout, and the design of it was great. It was self-consciously arty, sure, and it wasn’t really “subtle,” but it fit in perfectly with the theme of books and wasn’t just pretentious for its own sake. The use of split-screen was extremely well-done, as were the on-screen calligraphy and subtitles.
So there, just in case anybody accuses me of being anti-Greenaway. I still think The Cook… sucked, though, but at least I’m interested now in seeing Prospero’s Books.