Change Your Image
robertocartera
Reviews
The Execution (1985)
there are some interesting elements to this TV movie...
there is a lot wrong with this made for TV movie. the production values, script and some of the performances can all be faulted. at times it hovers uneasily between lurid pot-boiler and holocaust memorial and yet....
i was curiously moved by the ending, which is rather forlorn.
by the end a sort of catharsis has been achieved, but the women seem in some ways diminished by their experience. whether this is because they have blood on their hands (albeit that of a monster), or the emotional toll it has taken is open to interpretation. but i liked the real feeling of sadness, and indeed loneliness, that they and we are left with. it was an unusually complex set of feelings that one rarely experiences at the end of a TV movie.
BBC Play of the Month: Heartbreak House (1977)
One of Shaw's worst and badly done to boot!
This is a 1977 BBC version of an awfully dated and rather boorish piece. The production is shoddy at times, with actors fluffing lines and the boom shadow clearly visible etc.
It actually has a rather fine cast, but even the likes of Gielgud, Daniel Massey and Sian Phillips look all at sea with the self-indulgent waffle they have to deliver here.
There are some good lines, where the famed Shavian wit survives, but overall, I found the entire enterprise a tedious bore.
For good examples of Shaw's work I heartily recommend the film versions of Major Barbara and Pygmalion. Both feature Wendy Hiller - the best exponent of Shaw.
BBC2 Playhouse: Grown-Ups (1980)
excellent film
if you are a mike leigh fan then this one really is a must.
it is undoubtedly dated and technically crude - it was filmed in 1980 for TV - but in a way this adds to the sense of period.
the acting is superb - both hilarious and moving in the same way that secrets and lies was. in many ways this piece is in fact the precursor to that movie. the character brenda blethyn plays is an obvious relation to the one in secrets and lies and just as touching and funny. she is the lynch-pin here and the instigator of the more farcical elements. yet the other cast members are just as good and provide the background and emotional depth to the piece.
a lot of leigh's early TV work has dimmed with the passing of time, but this is a key work which ranks amongst his best. it marks the transition from a more experimental style to the more confident approach he showed in the cinema thereafter.
i had been wanting to see grown-ups since its first transmission, as i had fond memories of it. when i finally did recently i was not disappointed. it is his most under-rated work and i think one of the crown jewels. i hope you enjoy it as much as i did.
Fah talai jone (2000)
help me! i am in love with the Black Tiger....
The Black Tiger was so gorgeous! I kept having cardiac arrhythmia every time on screen.
Unfortunately IMDb has no picture or listing for the actor involved, otherwise I would be contacting him to let him know that i am his NUMBER ONE FAN! a la Kathy Bates.....
i thought that the movie itself was wonderful entertainment and that the scenes of the central protagonists indicated that this director is capable of some very poignant, serious work which i hope he goes on to explore. i am thinking particularly of the fight over the boats on the lake. i was quite gripped by this and found it very moving.
i just hope that his next flick also stars my favourite actor....
Chun gwong ja sit (1997)
an excellent love story
i have seen this movie twice now and have enjoyed it both times. it is shot in an undeniably flashy style, which can at times seem unnecessary, but it is so well acted and unusual in theme that it can be forgiven this stylistic error.
it is an often painful look at a relationship between two men who are attracted to each other, but who are also tormented by their love. it will have resonances for anyone who has been in an intense partnership, but especially for gay men - who will also be entranced by the two gorgeous leads.
i advise you to ignore the carping of the previous mailer and go see!
Quills (2000)
where there's a quill there's a way...
this is an excellent piece of work, mainly because of the acting and philip kaufmans fluid and lucid direction, but especially the writing. it is rare these days to see a film that is articulate and witty and which resonates on so many levels. the themes of hypocrisy, the duality of good and evil, and censorship and art are all explored in a way which enhances rather than hampers the plot development.
any historical inaccuracies are, to my mind, irrelevant. the moral conundrums the marquis de sade presents us with here are to serve an artistic rather than a factual purpose, and if this dubious character has been represented in a way which allows us to think and reflect at the expense of historical accuracy then so be it. this is a movie that is both thought provoking and fun at the same time.