The extremes of celluloid
Jun. 26th, 2005 05:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bookzombieWe saw very different films/episodes of series yesterday which just show the extremes, even within the realm of the fantastic.
Firstly there is Sin City. I've read one of the original graphic novels, The Big Fat Kill, which is not amongst my favourite books (more mindless violence than I am entirely comfortable with), but I was curious to see how it had been filmed.
The actual filming is stunning, the use of almost entirely stark black and white is very effective and mimics the style of the books astonishingly accurately. The cast was also spot on - Mickey Rourke as Marv is particularly good.
However, it really is not for the faint-hearted, being extremely violent. And while I kind-of enjoyed it, it was a rather guilty pleasure. It may be a sign of me taking things a little too seriously, but there is something rather uncomfortable about some of the ideas. In particular, the Sin City prostitutes have their own area of town which they run as they like - and it is interpreted as them being 'strong and independent'. But they are still having to work as prostitutes to make their way (in fact I think only one woman in the film is not either a prostitute or stripper). This strikes me as Miller trying to have his cake and eat it.
And for something completely different we have the the Anime Fruits Basket, recommended to P. by a colleague.
This is the most gentle, good natured Anime I have ever seen. A young girl, Tohru, who for complicated reasons is living in a tent, accidentally trespasses on the home of the most popular boy at school, Yuki Sohma. Soon she finds out that he is part of a large family who are suffering under a curse: if any of them are hugged by someone of the opposite sex they are transformed into animals from the chinese zodiac (apart from Kyo who turns into a cat. Cats, according to one legend, should have been in the zodiac but were cheated out of the opportunity).
Over the first six episodes, Tohru starts to meet the various members of the family and by her good nature wins their affections. Tohru is occasionally a bit of a Pollyanna character, which can be a little irritating, but overall the Anime is as sweet and funny a production as you are likely to see. It also has some nice post-modern touches (flashbacks in different styles of animation, for example). There is one lovely scene where the head of the household is told that he should be angry about something when he is not so he reaches off frame and picks up a stylised cross 'anger' symbol and sticks it to his head. 'Is that better?' he asks.
Anyway, highly recommended. We will be picking up the other 3 volumes as soon as possible!
Firstly there is Sin City. I've read one of the original graphic novels, The Big Fat Kill, which is not amongst my favourite books (more mindless violence than I am entirely comfortable with), but I was curious to see how it had been filmed.
The actual filming is stunning, the use of almost entirely stark black and white is very effective and mimics the style of the books astonishingly accurately. The cast was also spot on - Mickey Rourke as Marv is particularly good.
However, it really is not for the faint-hearted, being extremely violent. And while I kind-of enjoyed it, it was a rather guilty pleasure. It may be a sign of me taking things a little too seriously, but there is something rather uncomfortable about some of the ideas. In particular, the Sin City prostitutes have their own area of town which they run as they like - and it is interpreted as them being 'strong and independent'. But they are still having to work as prostitutes to make their way (in fact I think only one woman in the film is not either a prostitute or stripper). This strikes me as Miller trying to have his cake and eat it.
And for something completely different we have the the Anime Fruits Basket, recommended to P. by a colleague.
This is the most gentle, good natured Anime I have ever seen. A young girl, Tohru, who for complicated reasons is living in a tent, accidentally trespasses on the home of the most popular boy at school, Yuki Sohma. Soon she finds out that he is part of a large family who are suffering under a curse: if any of them are hugged by someone of the opposite sex they are transformed into animals from the chinese zodiac (apart from Kyo who turns into a cat. Cats, according to one legend, should have been in the zodiac but were cheated out of the opportunity).
Over the first six episodes, Tohru starts to meet the various members of the family and by her good nature wins their affections. Tohru is occasionally a bit of a Pollyanna character, which can be a little irritating, but overall the Anime is as sweet and funny a production as you are likely to see. It also has some nice post-modern touches (flashbacks in different styles of animation, for example). There is one lovely scene where the head of the household is told that he should be angry about something when he is not so he reaches off frame and picks up a stylised cross 'anger' symbol and sticks it to his head. 'Is that better?' he asks.
Anyway, highly recommended. We will be picking up the other 3 volumes as soon as possible!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-26 10:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-27 07:14 am (UTC)One comment I meant to make earlier is about the script. It seems to be traditional to prefer the subtitles over the dubbing. But the Fruits Basket dubbed script is excellent (the voice acting is better than some as well).
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-27 12:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-01 07:13 am (UTC)We've just got up to episode 20 - 6 more to go! We seem to have gone between laughing ourself silly, weeping buckets and wanting to give Tohru a slap for apologising all the time.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-10 03:49 pm (UTC)< /rant> Well, to each their own. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-11 07:14 am (UTC)Mind you, computer game voice acting is as bad, if not worse. I usually play games on mute - which is a shame with some games because the music has improved a great deal in recent years.
My main problem with subtitles is that we are the kind of classless louts who (whisper who dares) eat in front of the television. So you look down at your lap to make sure that you aren't trying to dip your fork into your glass of wine and miss significant plot developments!