An afternoon well spent
This afternoon, LHPJ and I had lunch at Tessaro's, where I had THE BEST TUNA MELT EVER. Seriously, it was REAL tuna - not out of a can, not coated in mayo. True, there was a small amount of thousand island dressing on the sandwich, along with mushrooms and colby-jack cheese (on rye). YUM!Then, we went and saw The Constant Gardener, which despite its terrible title is a very good film. It reminded Jon quite a bit of The English Patient in the way it was filmed (and not just because it too stars Ralph Fiennes). I concurred with his assessment. It also reminded me quite a bit of Rabbit Proof Fence.
Though it's not what I would call a tear-jerker (a term which I never use as a positive when describing movies), it does provoke some strong emotion. It's relatively intense and pretty political (so don't see it if you're not into that type of movie).
How do I have the time to spend my afternoon this way, now that I'm working and in school? Well, I had class (lab) this morning, which was FANTASTIC (more on this later - possibly tomorrow). And since we've been home, we took Pancho for a walk and sat down to work. It's 9:30, and I'm FINALLY eating dinner. SO, I have accomplished much, in addition to having an enjoyable afternoon.
My Ramen calls (yes, I really am a student again!).
posted by Schna @ 8:23 PM
1 Comments:
Yeah, and not just because it stars Ralph Fiennes as a Brit in Africa...
Another thing that I liked about this film is that it managed to show the squalor of life in the impoverished shanty-towns of Kenya without turning the film into a Christian Children's Fund commercial starring Sally Struthers. Not surprisingly, I would argue that this is not a matter of "realism" in the sense of "objective representation," but a matter of cinematographic style. The Sally Struthers commercials are characterized by numerous slow-motion soft-focus close-ups of children's faces (usually covered in flies), cutting away only to see a wider angle shot of Sally walking through a congregation of puppy-dog-eyed children (Where are the parents? Who knows? Perhaps the scoundrels have abandoned their children!), all of whom are wearing the most angelic expression of supplication, obedience, and fatalistic resignation.
"The Constant Gardener," by contrast, is far more lively and vibrant in its style, sometimes even approaching the fast-paced montage style that characterizes the "hipster"-style films of the likes of Guy Ritchie. Even when it sets montage aside, the film still has a lot more moving shots (we often get a wide-angle shot of the village, with no people in sight, from a moving train), rather than the slow succession of still portraits, which are clearly designed to evoke pity and shame (or contempt). The film, I think, avoids this trap, while also steering clear of the opposite pole, that of romanticism.
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