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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 342 responses total. |
richard
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response 254 of 342:
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Feb 19 23:49 UTC 2006 |
re #252 but they weren't INTENDED to be "poster boys for loving and
respectful behaviour in a homosexual relationship", or any relationship
for that matter. That was the whole point, that tragically some people
can be in love and yet be in no way capable of returning that love or
in some cases, like with the Heath Ledger character, not even be
capable of being in the relationship for the most part.
Heath Ledger's character feels love, both for his wife and for the Jake
Gyllenhal character, but in neither case is he capable of confronting
it, or accepting that he has any ability to accept and give love as
strongly as he feels the love. "Brokeback Mountain" is a classic
Shakespearean tragedy.
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kingjon
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response 255 of 342:
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Feb 19 23:56 UTC 2006 |
"... classic Shakespearean tragedy"
Have you ever *read* Romeo and Juliet?
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scott
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response 256 of 342:
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Feb 19 23:58 UTC 2006 |
Well, *I* thought Sideways was pretty funny - though to be honest I watched
it in between flights at a friend's wine-tasting.
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richard
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response 257 of 342:
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Feb 20 00:00 UTC 2006 |
re #255, yeah why? you think Romeo and Juliet is more tragic than
Brokeback Mountain? Society would not accept the relationship of Romeo
and Juliet, just as society in the rural west wouldn't accept the
relationship of the Ledger and Gyllenhall characters. There is no
place in society for one couple because they are too young, there is no
place for the other couple because they are gay. Doomed lovers from
the outset, similar stories.
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tod
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response 258 of 342:
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Feb 20 02:24 UTC 2006 |
re #257
I didn't think age had anything to do with it.
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kingjon
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response 259 of 342:
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Feb 20 02:29 UTC 2006 |
Re #255: The relationship between Romeo and Juliet had if anything *too much*
demonstrated love, which is exactly the opposite of what you described ("in
neither case is he capable ... of accepting that he has any ability to to
accept and give love ...").
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other
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response 260 of 342:
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Feb 20 06:06 UTC 2006 |
I also found the characters in SIDEWAYS remarkably unsympathetic. In a
character study, if you cannot relate to the characters or at least find
something absorbingly interesting about them, what motivation would you
have for staying with it? Mine was the hope that something would
happen, and the desire to understand what it was about this film that
made it so popular.
I'm bereft on both counts.
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rcurl
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response 261 of 342:
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Feb 20 06:42 UTC 2006 |
One might say, the movie doesn't care what you think. It is a story of
somewhat believable characters. They say things and do things, in fact many
of which are not what you ordinarily encounter. It is perhaps remarkable that
the acting is quite good - they aren't a bunch of unbelievable hams. So, your
job is to sit back and enjoy it or not.
I found the characters to be mostly a bunch of jerks. Even jerks can be
entertaining to observe - which is all we are asked to do.
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tod
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response 262 of 342:
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Feb 20 06:50 UTC 2006 |
I own a mirror. Why should I pay?
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rcurl
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response 263 of 342:
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Feb 20 07:13 UTC 2006 |
You got me there - though no one is *making* you pay, so don't.
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edina
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response 264 of 342:
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Feb 20 15:20 UTC 2006 |
"Sideways" is a movie I saw once and will most likely only see again if
someone asks to watch it.
My favorite scene remains, hands down, when Miles (Giamatti) is retrieving
Jack's (Haden Church) wallet. It was a sequence of events that still makes
me laugh.
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happyboy
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response 265 of 342:
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Feb 20 18:01 UTC 2006 |
that was fun.
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naftee
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response 266 of 342:
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Feb 20 18:34 UTC 2006 |
hi happyboy !
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remmers
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response 267 of 342:
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Feb 20 18:35 UTC 2006 |
For the record: I *loved* "Sideways". (And I wish Virginia Madsen had
won the Oscar that she was nominated for.)
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edina
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response 268 of 342:
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Feb 20 18:45 UTC 2006 |
I'm just glad to see her finally getting some great work. She was really
great in that role.
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tod
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response 269 of 342:
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Feb 20 18:46 UTC 2006 |
I like when they drive the car into the tree. I can relate to such extreme
measures for an alibi.
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richard
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response 270 of 342:
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Feb 20 19:10 UTC 2006 |
re #260 I thought the two main characters in Sideways were both
sympathetic and likeable. These are two guys who are swallowed up in
their own neuroses (one guy has an inferiority complex, the other is a
narcissist) and because of that may always ultimately fail at every
relationship they have. By the end of the movie, you know Haden
Church's impending marriage is never going to last because his
narcissism will never allow him to be faithful. Giamatti's character's
relationship with the Virginia Madsen character probably won't last
either, because he-- like his friend-- is too self obsessed, albeit in
a different way.
But there is one relationship which will not fail, which has not
failed, and that is the one they have with each other. When we first
see Haden Church's character, he is in a roomful of his soon-to-be
inlaws and he lights up when he sees Giammati's character. You can
sense immediately that he's closer to this guy than he is to his
fiancee or to anybody else in that room. There is a great deal of
tenderness in their relationship, you can see they really care for each
other, and if that doesn't make those characters sympathetic, what
will? No matter what happens in their lives, even if they get
swallowed up in their neuroses, they will always have each other.
There is an allegory in the wine storyline, because wine changes with
age, gets better. The Giammati character relates to wine, because
while he has his inferiority complex and failed at his first marriage,
he hopes that he-- like wine-- can and will get better with age.
There's a scene where he describes why Pinot Noires are his favorite,
because pinot noir grapes have a difficult early life and require a
great deal of caring, and if they survive, end up making great wine.
Pinot Noir grapes, he also points out, have a limited timespan where
they are of great quality, before they go downhill. Again an allegory
for a man in a middle age crisis wondering if he'll ever get in another
relationship before his time passes and he's aged too much and goes
downhill.
There's a sad scene where the Haden Church character, having had the
crap kicked out of him by one girl, picks up a waitress in a restaurant
almost immediately, and he tells Giamatti that he isn't going to hang
out with him, that he's going to wait for her to get off work. There's
a sadness in Giamatti's eyes as Haden Church's character says, "I have
to do what I have to do" His character is trapped in his neuroses and
will never escape from it.
The movie ends on a hopeful note because we see Giamatti's character
going back to Madsen's apartment and knocking on the door. A poignant
moment because it signals that maybe, just maybe, he will escape his
neuroses and be able to commit to another person again. Maybe, like a
good pinot noir grape, his time has come.
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edina
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response 271 of 342:
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Feb 20 19:12 UTC 2006 |
Or, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
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richard
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response 272 of 342:
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Feb 20 20:06 UTC 2006 |
ELECTION-- This is another really good movie I just watched on dvd.
Matthew Broderick plays a high school teacher having a midlife crisis.
He's the advisor to the student council and has to monitor the upcoming
elections. The problem is he can't stand the girl running for
president, a conceited type-A resume-obsessed student played by Reese
Witherspoon. So he decides he wants her to lose, and secretly recruits
another student, the airhead former star quarterback, to run against
her. Then this guy's lesbian sister also decides to run, on
an "abolish the student council" platform. As the election nears, and
Broderick's feud with Witherspoon's character gets worse, he slowly
cracks up. This is a terrific "dark comedy", and Broderick and
Witherspoon-- who alternate narrating-- create memorable characters.
Witherspoon deserved a nomination for this in fact, but it came out too
early in the year. I liked the final scene, which takes place a couple
of years after the "election, when Broderick's character-- having had
his life utterly destroyed by the earlier events, is in Washington D.C.
as a tourist, and sees Witherspoon getting into a limo with a
congressman, and he chucks his soda cup at the back window as they
drive off.
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edina
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response 273 of 342:
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Feb 20 20:07 UTC 2006 |
Are you on an Alexander Payne kick?
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richard
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response 274 of 342:
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Feb 20 20:28 UTC 2006 |
re #273 yes! I was wondering if anyone would pick up on that. I
rented "Election" because Alexander Payne wrote it, he is the same guy
who wrote "Sideways". Good for you Edina, you know your screenwriters.
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richard
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response 275 of 342:
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Feb 20 20:29 UTC 2006 |
Payne also wrote "About Schmidt", another terrific "dark comedy"
featuring Jack Nicholson in a "late life crisis"
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edina
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response 276 of 342:
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Feb 20 22:15 UTC 2006 |
He also directed them and is/was married to Sandra Oh, who is in "Sideways".
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remmers
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response 277 of 342:
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Feb 21 14:35 UTC 2006 |
Interesting insights in #270.
I recently acquired Federico Fellini's 1960 film "La Dolce Vita" on DVD.
Among the special features is an appreciative introduction to the film
delivered by (guess who!) Alexander Payne, who says that "La Dolce Vita"
was an important influence on his own work. I can see that. Like the
Fellini film, "Sideways" and especially "About Schmidt" are rather
episodic in structure, and both films describe a personal journey by a
flawed and somewhat lost and insecure protagonist.
(Quick, somebody change the subject before this item is taken over by
esoteric film buffs! ;-)
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nharmon
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response 278 of 342:
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Feb 21 14:49 UTC 2006 |
My wife and I watched "Garden State" over the weekend. We both enjoyed it.
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