This was *supposed* to be a gushing review of my third screening of the Korean horror family fun drama THE HOST, but when I got to the MFA to pick up tickets, a half hour before the 7.45 showtime, there was already a massive line of ticketholders and a not insignificant number of people waiting to buy tickets. In about 15 minutes, I was the next person in line (after a couple) at the box office window. Of course, that's when the ticket seller tells the couple, "We've sold out," and scotch tapes a handwritten sign to the window. Frack.A frenetic museum film staffer materializes by the box office and explains to us that whoever's left in line will now form the standby ticket line. In her hand I could see a rubberbanded packet of will-call tickets for the show. Once she got us parked against the wall to wait, she began bobbing in and out of pockets of people to see if they'd bought tickets in advance and giving them their tickets.
Bastards.
My sister arrived a couple minutes after the standby line formed and we hung out a while, keeping an eye on the staffer and the will-call tix, and watched as the ticket holder line filed into the auditorium... Once they were all in, we talked it over and figured if we DID get a couple of the last tickets, we'd probably get craptacular seats. And me, I'd seen it twice already, so paying for a crummy view just didn't make sense, and In agreed seeing it in a more optimal situation after its wide release (sometime in March, I think) would be worth the wait. So, we bid the standby line "adieu," and took off in search of a back-up flick.
I had LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA in mind, which I knew was playing at Kendall Square. Alas, the timing for IWO JIMA didn't work out and we ended up seeing the very excellent NOTES ON A SCANDAL.
Barbara, an old "battle axe" of a schoolteacher chooses to take Sheba, the art instructor newcomer on the faculty, under her wing. Barbara is something of a loner, impatient with posers and incompetents, and she feels/convinces herself that she has found a similar, or perhaps complementary is more accurate, personality in Sheba. Unfortunately, as she inveigles herself into Sheba's life and family, she discovers that this is not the case, as Sheba repeatedly falls short of her hopes and expectations for a true friend. When Barbara uncovers a secret trespass so terrible that it could destroy Sheba's life, she suddenly understands that this doesn't have to be the end of their friendship, but the beginning of a deeper and stronger bond between the two women. She offers to keep this secret and play the role of mentor and guide, promising to keep her safe so long as she follows her direction.
Compassion or manipulation?
Tomato, tomahto. =)
Of course, things do not go as planned, and Sheba fails Barbara again and again, driving her to threaten to reveal the sordid secret to the world. Wacky UK SWF fun ensues!
Performances on all sides are excellent. Barbara's view on the world is quite skewed compared to reality, and Judi Dench is frightfully good at living it, as the sinister stalkerly matron. Cate Blanchett's Sheba is sad and beautiful and just aggravating to watch at times as she makes the wrong choices and falls prey to vicious manipulation from all sides—her new best friend Barbara, her star pupil, and even her thoughtless mother. Only her husband, played by the always perfect and dynamic Bill Nighy, is fair to her, and sadly, he's the only one that she really betrays.
Doesn't it sound like FUN? =)
A *kind* of fun, anyhow. The voiceover by Barbara—the thoughts with which she fills her diary, a record of the life full of significance that she wills into existence—shapes and slants all the characters you meet. The world thru her eyes is quite entertaining, in a vicious sort of way, as it's full of useless people and pointless goings-on. Check NOTES out for a tight little drama played out by an excellent cast, a movie that'll inspire months of late night "what if?" ethical and relationship discussions. =)
Keep on keepin on~
4 comments:
I'd heard this wasn't all that good, but hmmmm.... What about Smokin' Aces? I'm waiting to hear what you think about that one-because it looks fun. Good for the kids too...
I got nothing bad to say about SMOKIN ACES. Granted, I've only seen the trailer once all the way thru, but y'know, they could've just shown me that grody Jason Bateman character and they would've won me over. =)
I don't even have to see the movie to know that it's gonna be AWEsomely McAWEsome =)
Of course, I *will* go see the movie.
And if you take the kids to see it, you are the best mommy ever!
Next to mine, of course. Who took me to the theater to see ALIEN multiple times, and let me see OUTLAND on the big screen, too.
Just took a look at the front page of the movie site and see that they've got a pretty F'ing cool concept for a promotion—a contest about becoming the top hired assassin in Second Life. Perhaps the first really potentially cool tie-in with SL that I've heard of.
I'm not rushing to join, but it sounds like a very fun time. I'd guess that ACES creates some bogus marks within SL as targets (if you're actually supposed to kill them). So, not the perfect high-stakes game (where you'd actually be hired to kill a real SL'er). Still, maybe all you hafta do is hit them with a paintball or a marker. Hrmm... that would be a pretty good game to just have in SL anyhow.
I ramble.
I like NOTES because it's from crazy lonely sad willful Barbara's point of view. If it was from Sheba's, we'd have something closer to the SINGLE WHITE FEMALE model, with your sympathies pretty decidedly on the side of Sheba. Thru Barbara's eyes, tho, and told in her words, she's got a code, and standards, and wraps up her issues, plain to anyone looking in from outside, in all kinds of denial doublethinking.
Of course, that may not be everyone's idea of a fun time at the movies. =)
I thought your description of Smoking Aces as Cannonball Run but with hit men very compelling. I'll probably see it in about 2 weeks, I'm thinking.
And Notes does look good. I'm not seeing any movies this week though, as I'm on call, and I don't like going to the movies when I'm on call, as I don't want to have to leave the theater if I have to respond to something...
I didn't see Alien in the theaters, but I did see it on cable, with my dad. He told me to close my eyes at the stomach part, but I kinda didn't...
It made me who I am today.
Well, then, Z, I thank the gods for "kinda didn't" =)
Saw ACES on Friday and enjoyed it mucho. I'm afraid I set the bar a little high, and came out a tiny bit disappointed. It wasn't quite as everything-and-the-kitchen-sink expansive as CANNONBALL RUN in the kooky characters department. The action and violence is very entertaining. There's even an elevator scene that I think beautiful. Plus, two very cabinboy button pushing trailers that probably were worth two-thirds of the ticket price on their own. More in a post in the works.
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