Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Critic's Corner
So I saw La Dolce Vita last night.
First and foremost, let me say that I did not realize it was going to be three hours long. I am all kinds of cultural, but three hours in the dark on any given weeknight is too much for me, unless I am spending those hours sleeping or . . . yeah, generally just the sleeping. I mean, Titanic was over three hours long, but that was a very big boat. And Schindler's List at least had a war.
But regardless, I genuinely enjoyed the picture. Beautifully shot, lots of fun little thematic nuggets to grab on to, decent acting (well, it was in Italian, so it was hard to tell, but I was highly convinced that these were real Italian people) from pretty people, nicely lush score.
Some interestingly dated aspects as well. For instance, all the women in the movie were pretty much either utterly vacant, deeply crazy, or neutered and matronly. Physical violence against women seemed to be frowned upon in only the most cursory fashion. Gay men literally either wore dresses or at a bare minimum kept their wrists fully limp and their lisps flying. It makes me laugh, actually, when older works of art are so casually offensive. How far we've come, sort of.
Anyway, I recommend it. But be aware it's three hours long beforehand. And don't put any gum in your mouth ahead of time, because it will start to taste really bad and get kind of thick and you won't have anywhere to put it. I'm just saying.
So I saw La Dolce Vita last night.
First and foremost, let me say that I did not realize it was going to be three hours long. I am all kinds of cultural, but three hours in the dark on any given weeknight is too much for me, unless I am spending those hours sleeping or . . . yeah, generally just the sleeping. I mean, Titanic was over three hours long, but that was a very big boat. And Schindler's List at least had a war.
But regardless, I genuinely enjoyed the picture. Beautifully shot, lots of fun little thematic nuggets to grab on to, decent acting (well, it was in Italian, so it was hard to tell, but I was highly convinced that these were real Italian people) from pretty people, nicely lush score.
Some interestingly dated aspects as well. For instance, all the women in the movie were pretty much either utterly vacant, deeply crazy, or neutered and matronly. Physical violence against women seemed to be frowned upon in only the most cursory fashion. Gay men literally either wore dresses or at a bare minimum kept their wrists fully limp and their lisps flying. It makes me laugh, actually, when older works of art are so casually offensive. How far we've come, sort of.
Anyway, I recommend it. But be aware it's three hours long beforehand. And don't put any gum in your mouth ahead of time, because it will start to taste really bad and get kind of thick and you won't have anywhere to put it. I'm just saying.
