Sunday, August 28, 2005

Sofa & Snot

Punched out by a cold for two days - a real "drink as much as you like and you won't get pissed" zinger. For amusement, got The Interpreter and The Village from Blockbuster.

The Interpreter was bobbins - and it's not a surprise when you discover from the special features that the film was written as they went along. And that the original ending was laughable. Also features an unbelievably self-indulgent rant by director Sydney Pollack about the evils of pan-and-scan transfers - but Why? We're watching the movie on DVD. In widescreen. Why are you shouting at us you strange old man?

The Village was worse - Fabulously shot and realised, until The Twist starts to rear its ugly head. It would have been better not to have revealed it, and let film fans argue about it for years. Otherwise you're left wondering at so many stupid, stupid moments (like why keep A Costume under the floorboards in the village prison?). Again the Special Features don't make the film any more special. M Night Charlatan instead explains that the monsters only got red cloaks at the last minute when the original monster suits didn't look good on camera. Worse, the actress playing the blind girl turns out to have kept a diary, which she narrates over violins and pastel woods:

Oh! Ivy! Ivy! Ivy! Ivy! Ivy! *giggle* Ivy! Oh! I swear I shall know you better than I know myself... Cherish this moment... Love this stillness... Why, this film has been a dance... I am afraid to leave - you must always be ready... When it was over, Night did not yell "cut!" - he yelled, for everyone to hear "check the gate!" ... I have just seen the finished film, and I do not thing I will ever recover. It wounds me. Night has bestowed upon me another gift - the film has made Ivy Walker alive again.

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