Not brilliant, and overlong, but a film that's full of surprises.
Who'd imagine a Hollywood film that has a serious role for Gerard Manley Hopkins? That could poke fun at the chap who wants to twist Shakespeare to his peculiar fundamentalism? That could have authority figures asserting that, yes, it would be censorship to stop somebody expressing horror at the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan? That has such an unlikeable, feral beast as its main character? That pokes fun, albeit gentle fun, at the peculiar brand of revenge known as 'justice' in Hollywood? That can portray opera as redeeming. One could go on.. that could have an adult objecting, coherently, to adolescent emoting - 'you are dealing with human beings, not characters in your personal opera' was, I thought, rather a good line.
The most annoying habit was repeatedly playing the theme from Tristan and Isolde, quite well, actually, in the foreground, but with people acting and talking over it. Maybe it was supposed to be some post-modernist message about ignoring beauty, or not paying attention, or... perhaps it was just a poor sound engineer.
It would be a much better film with an hour cut out of it, so I wouldn't recommend it. Maybe, though, if you've a very long flight it might be just the ticket to keep you engaged without needing to concentrate too much, with surprising little gems from time to time.
Who'd imagine a Hollywood film that has a serious role for Gerard Manley Hopkins? That could poke fun at the chap who wants to twist Shakespeare to his peculiar fundamentalism? That could have authority figures asserting that, yes, it would be censorship to stop somebody expressing horror at the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan? That has such an unlikeable, feral beast as its main character? That pokes fun, albeit gentle fun, at the peculiar brand of revenge known as 'justice' in Hollywood? That can portray opera as redeeming. One could go on.. that could have an adult objecting, coherently, to adolescent emoting - 'you are dealing with human beings, not characters in your personal opera' was, I thought, rather a good line.
The most annoying habit was repeatedly playing the theme from Tristan and Isolde, quite well, actually, in the foreground, but with people acting and talking over it. Maybe it was supposed to be some post-modernist message about ignoring beauty, or not paying attention, or... perhaps it was just a poor sound engineer.
It would be a much better film with an hour cut out of it, so I wouldn't recommend it. Maybe, though, if you've a very long flight it might be just the ticket to keep you engaged without needing to concentrate too much, with surprising little gems from time to time.