Two DVD’s I viewed recently and can recommend should you be yearning for a recommendation. Slightly different from each other.
Carol – I like some of Todd Haynes’s films though was not expecting to particularly enjoy this one ….but I did. Like with The Boys In The Band (see below) it was more than a claustrophobic period piece. Presuming it stayed true to Patricia Highsmith’s original novel, I was intrigued by the fact that Carol’s marriage is already failing before she meets Therese. Her love for Therese is not selfishly obsessive; she is willing to let go of Therese in order to maintain access to her daughter after the divorce. Both she and Harge, her husband, attempt to remain on good terms with each other for the sake of their child, whom they both love. Carol’s sacrifice is to forgo custody of the child, and only to have limited access, which is a price she is prepared to pay.
It’s incredibly beautiful to look at, though not filmed in an obviously self-conscious way. The pace is very slow, almost hypnotic and the actors convey as much in looks and body language as they do in words. It could almost be a Highsmith “thriller”.
Now as I come to write about the second film I realise I have completely forgotten what it was.
hunts through pile of DVD’s….to find…
Oh yes, Zootropolis. I kid you not. Not quite sure why this is classified as a children’s film, because apart from the fact that its world is that of animated talking animals, the plot is a very funny, sharp satire on correctness of the cultural and political kind. It has surprising bite (but then I think the best of Disney has always been subversive), and the jokes come so thick and fast (visually and verbally) it definitely will hold up to more than one viewing. Two particular scenes are priceless and I laughed over them for days after. I hate to say “classic” of a new film, but…..
