the Inception-like walls of your reality
Drama I know that hyperbole is very easy for me, but this may well be one of the best blog posts I've ever read. A screenwriter called Josh writes about a nocturnal encounter. I won't spoil much more than that other than to say, when you begin reading and see paragraphs like:
"The Character-driven Procedural works for a number of reasons, but the biggest and the best of them is this: they almost never get picked up to series without a Serious Asswhipping Actor in the lead. Simon Baker. Hugh Laurie. Tony Shaloub. Kyra Sedgwick. Angie Harmon. These are legitimate cleanup hitters in any TV lineup. They might not be the favorites of the genre crowd. You might not stand in line for their autograph. And you are not going to see them down at Comic-Con doing funny panels with Jeff "Doc" Jensen. Why? Because they are too busy making the other twenty million people who watch tv every night love them."... he's just putting you into a false sense of security, as the Inception-like walls of your reality slowly begin to crash down.
all kinds of useful things.
TV My only experience of BBC Blast, the corporation's youth broadcasting initiative has been in seeing their megatruck park on the field in Sefton Park in Liverpool for a few days once a year, so when the Strategic Review suggested its closure I didn't pay it much mind, at least not as much mind as 6Music.
Turns out, as Laura Snapes argues, its work is vital, offering a range of community and educational services unavailable within the commercial sector, not least in terms of work placements. As a previous employee she knows full well the positive effect it can have on a young life and says that it's what led to her being in the position she is now:
So Save BBC Blast, yes?
[follow @saveBBCBlast here]
Turns out, as Laura Snapes argues, its work is vital, offering a range of community and educational services unavailable within the commercial sector, not least in terms of work placements. As a previous employee she knows full well the positive effect it can have on a young life and says that it's what led to her being in the position she is now:
"In May 2005 I was appointed BBC Cornwall’s Blast Reporter, which entailed spending the summer running my own section of the BBC Cornwall website. I interviewed bands, jewellery designers and the inventor of the first biodegradable surfboard, took photos of the Eden Sessions and played at being a real journalist for the summer. The same scheme went on in the majority of the BBC’s local newsrooms. With our sections being primarily arts-based and aimed at fellow teenagers, our duty as reporters was to file at least one article and diary entry per week in exchange for rigorous BBC training in internet content management systems, professional recording equipment, and safety procedures."In other words, BBC Blast gives teenagers the chance to properly experience the business of working in the media across an extended period (rather than an odd week's work placement), and even if they don't subsequently go into the media, their life aspirations will at least have been increased, it having been illustrated to them that they have the ability and potential to do all kinds of useful things.
So Save BBC Blast, yes?
[follow @saveBBCBlast here]
Getting to the Bottom of the Bard
New press release ...
"There’s magic in the air. After a hugely successful UK and international tour of Macbeth, Shakespeare 4 Kidz hit the road again this autumn with a revival of their acclaimed A Midsummer Night’s Dream.I've been invited to the Manchester show and will report back. I've previously reviewed Macbeth here.
Fairies and fun, royalty and romance, magic and misunderstandings: A Midsummer Night’s Dream has them all and more. So, little wonder this enchanting play is one of the most popular ever written. The Bard’s comedy gets a magical transformation from S4K, whose musical version has long been a must-see for school parties and family groups.
This child-friendly version of the play launches its national tour at the Palace Theatre in Mansfield on Tuesday September 14. It will play two shows a day until Friday September 17 before taking off round the country until the end of November. A second leg of the tour begins after Christmas.
A galaxy of S4K celebrity fans have already sent good luck messages for the show.
Dame Judi Dench: (Titania at the Rose in Kingston this year): “I am happy to support any approach that helps children to understand Shakespeare’s plays and to realise that they are about emotions that we all share – love, jealousy, anger etc – all of which can be found in The Dream!”
Dame Helen Mirren: “Good wishes to Shakespeare 4 Kidz. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the Avatar of Shakespeare, with something to be enjoyed by all age groups, a great message and lots of fun and fantasy. Enjoy!”
Victoria Wood: “Good luck, stay cool – there’s nothing worse than a nervous Bottom!”
Graham Norton: “Have a wonderful show. Good Puck to you all!”
Jason Donovan: “It is great for kids to appreciate at an early age great writing and none has a better grasp of the English language than Shakespeare himself. Enjoy the journey kids!”
Barbara Windsor: “To all the Shakespeare 4 Kidz, I would like to wish you lots of luck with your A Midsummer Night's Dream tour. What a wonderful way to introduce Shakespeare to a younger audience. To all of you who are performing, and to all who are watching, ENJOY! Lots of love Barbara Windsor x”
Corrie’s Archie Shuttleworth Roy Hudd, whose Bottom was a big hit in the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, even wrote S4K a special good luck poem.
And Loose Woman/Calendar Girl Lynda Bellingham remembers the fun she had when she appeared in the play.
“Amazingly my first professional role was Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Pendley Shakespeare Festival in Tring, Herts. It was an open air theatre and I had to run like the wind down a leafy glade arriving centre stage to say "Over hill over dale I do wander everywhere” etc. My first ever crit in the local paper said that if I never made it as an actress I could always try my hand in the 100 metres as I was so fast!”
The Dream is one of six S4K titles, following on from the 2009/10 national and international hit tour of Macbeth.
With a script and songbook by Julian Chenery and Matt Gimblett, and assistance from Mr Shakespeare, every S4K show uses the whole Shakespearean plot but uses only the most famous original lines and slots them into modern language so that everyone – even the youngest primary school children – can understand.
Adults in the audience who have previously been baffled by the Bard will find that they can at last understand what it is all about!
There are also songs, dances and lots of spellbinding effects as the fairies create a world of wonder in the woods.
Teachers, parents, pupils and critics are unanimous in their praise for S4K shows. Here are some of the things they said about Macbeth.
“My class and I caught a production of Macbeth…it was fantastic…a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare,” wrote a teacher from Northampton.
“I never thought Shakespeare cold be so interesting,” agreed a parent from Leicester.
“My favourite thing that’s happened this term,” said a 10 year old from York.
“My 10 year old daughter, who had already seen the afternoon performance with her school, couldn’t wait to go back for a second showing in the evening. That’s high praise indeed from someone who normally prefers Hannah Montana,” said a critic from Barnstaple.
Tyler in a Year 7 class in Truro gave it five out of five; Matthew in Year 6 in Leeds said it would stay in his memory for ever and Bethany, a Year 6 from Buxton, said: “The worst part was the interval!”
S4K promise a Dream show for all the family. So, why not fly away for some fun with the fairies!
A complete list of tour dates is available on www.shakespeare4kidz.com. Most venues offer two shows a day (morning and matinee).
S4K also offers classroom workshops led by professional actors/teachers plus, new for this year, Day Dream. This is a one-day cross-curricular experience in which up to 80 pupils can be involved. Following fun workshop sessions the participants stage their own mini version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for family at friends at the end of the day.
again and again
Film Whilst I await the release of the Inception blu-ray so that I can watch it again and again, I'm pleased to see that Cinematical, or a piece of it at least shares my theory about ... well just read it (assuming you've already seen the film).
Exciting crowd sourcing fact checking opportunity.
Journalism As Suw suggests, this New York Times story about David Cameron and British politics in general reads like it's discussing an alternative reality version of Britain. One inaccuracy, about the number of unemployed there are in the country has already been corrected but there are some strange turns of phrases as:
"The National Health Service, while protected from cuts, has been ordered to shed thousands of jobs. The coalition’s plan is to hand real power — and 70 percent of the health budget — to general practitioners, who, in the coalition plan, would decide for the first time in the health service’s 60-year history what kind of treatment patients would get, and where they would get it."Which only seems about half true. The NHS has been order to do anything of the sort, not directly. Can anyone else spot anything which doesn't look right?
The List:
15. Dissed by Lily Allen on twitter
Life For the interested, these are the facts ...
Last night, Lily Allen was tweeting her unhappiness at the way Channel 4 were going after Zac Goldsmith, essentially saying some not very nice things about their journalism and how, to her, they're hounding one man rather than going after the lot of them.
Me being me, (ie) a fan, I decided to send her:
There then followed a long discussion with @JoannaOC20 (who I don't know) about whether Lily was insulting me or not, a point on which we decided to agree to disagree. So I've assumed, that, for the purposes of the list (which I really should get around to writing down) and since it's as close as odds ...
Last night, Lily Allen was tweeting her unhappiness at the way Channel 4 were going after Zac Goldsmith, essentially saying some not very nice things about their journalism and how, to her, they're hounding one man rather than going after the lot of them.
Me being me, (ie) a fan, I decided to send her:
@lilyroseallen Have you seen the footage of Zac's father defending himself on The Money Programme in the 70s? bbc.co.uk/blogs/a...She was being fairly heavily criticised at the time, and I assume she thought I was being sarcastic, which I wasn't and replied with:
@feelinglistless have you seen the footage of my dad in vindaloo ?I replied, yes, and that I thought he was also very good as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and pointing out that I wasn't being sarcastic, suggesting that James Goldsmith's strategy was rather good since the journalists didn't know what to do outside of their comfort zone. She didn't get back, presumably because they got lost in the several hundred other replies she was probably getting.
There then followed a long discussion with @JoannaOC20 (who I don't know) about whether Lily was insulting me or not, a point on which we decided to agree to disagree. So I've assumed, that, for the purposes of the list (which I really should get around to writing down) and since it's as close as odds ...
15. Dissed by Lily Allen on twitter
Just enough to frighten the life out of me.
Life Earlier on today I heard my first gunshot.
Travelling up and down Merseyrail's Southport line all of my life, I've looked at the names of the stations and wondered what the actual place was like. So with time on my hands, I decided to travel the route and finally alight at those stations which have otherwise been a mystery and just go and finally have a look.
As it turned out, there were less places to stop I thought, having already been to the likes of Formby and Waterloo and I quickly discovered that there was a reason why my parents hadn't dragged me off the train at Hillside. There isn't very much for the idle tourist to do. These are just places were people live.
Childhood illusions were shattered left and right as I strained to find something interesting to look at. Bank Hall offers a good view of some wind turbines. Walk far enough away from Seaforth and Litherland's station and you reach the Leeds/Liverpool canal. Freshfield is a residential area with a level crossing, a cafe and a range of financial services.
Hightown seemed like it was going to be the least interesting of all. Like many of the stations on the line, it's mostly a feeder platform for the sand dunes and the walk along the Mersey. A pretty retirement village in a similar style to Port Sunlight or for our international readers, Leadworth in Doctor Who.
With only half of the day gone I decided to go and look at those dunes. Lacking any sense of direction and despite having looked at the map, I was fairly certain, rather quickly, that I'd gone in the wrong direction. But I kept walking, knowing that I couldn't be that far away from either the beach or the railway line.
Sure enough, eventually I did see what looked like the dunes ahead of me; tall grassy hill, lots of sand. It wasn't long before the new found confidence in my stride was reduced to a wimpy stroll as I noticed the KEEP OUT! signs and barbed wire. This was not public access to the beach.
This was not access to anyone but the Ministry of Defence because I'd stumbled upon Altcar Rifle Range. Looking up to the top of that tall hill, I could now see a sentry on guard duty silhouetted against the blue sky. He didn't turn to look at me and yet I still felt very vulnerable, very certain I was being watched.
Having got my breath back, I thought better of staying and and quietly slipped away. As I turned into the residential street that innocuously leads up to the training camp, I heard sudden noise, then a smattering of similar sudden noises. I jumped. A lot. And wondered what-in-the-hell-was-happening.
It was gun fire, of course, and this was the first time I'd heard it in real life. On television, yes. In films, obviously. But never with my own ears and not this close. Assuming they were live rounds, they had less aural punch than I imagined. More like a succession of pops, like a champaign cork. Just enough to frighten the life out of me.
I could still hear them and even as I neared the railway station the sound was still ever present. The juxtaposition was strange, being in the middle of what should be a quiet place were professional people live out their retirement, forever punctuated by gun shots.
One of the locals, a pensioner, was getting out of a car. Initially stopping her to question her about directions, I had ask her the inevitable. Do you live around here? Yes, she said. How do you live with it? The what? The gunshots? Oh, well, (she chuckled), after a while you stop hearing them ...
Travelling up and down Merseyrail's Southport line all of my life, I've looked at the names of the stations and wondered what the actual place was like. So with time on my hands, I decided to travel the route and finally alight at those stations which have otherwise been a mystery and just go and finally have a look.
As it turned out, there were less places to stop I thought, having already been to the likes of Formby and Waterloo and I quickly discovered that there was a reason why my parents hadn't dragged me off the train at Hillside. There isn't very much for the idle tourist to do. These are just places were people live.
Childhood illusions were shattered left and right as I strained to find something interesting to look at. Bank Hall offers a good view of some wind turbines. Walk far enough away from Seaforth and Litherland's station and you reach the Leeds/Liverpool canal. Freshfield is a residential area with a level crossing, a cafe and a range of financial services.
Hightown seemed like it was going to be the least interesting of all. Like many of the stations on the line, it's mostly a feeder platform for the sand dunes and the walk along the Mersey. A pretty retirement village in a similar style to Port Sunlight or for our international readers, Leadworth in Doctor Who.
With only half of the day gone I decided to go and look at those dunes. Lacking any sense of direction and despite having looked at the map, I was fairly certain, rather quickly, that I'd gone in the wrong direction. But I kept walking, knowing that I couldn't be that far away from either the beach or the railway line.
Sure enough, eventually I did see what looked like the dunes ahead of me; tall grassy hill, lots of sand. It wasn't long before the new found confidence in my stride was reduced to a wimpy stroll as I noticed the KEEP OUT! signs and barbed wire. This was not public access to the beach.
This was not access to anyone but the Ministry of Defence because I'd stumbled upon Altcar Rifle Range. Looking up to the top of that tall hill, I could now see a sentry on guard duty silhouetted against the blue sky. He didn't turn to look at me and yet I still felt very vulnerable, very certain I was being watched.
Having got my breath back, I thought better of staying and and quietly slipped away. As I turned into the residential street that innocuously leads up to the training camp, I heard sudden noise, then a smattering of similar sudden noises. I jumped. A lot. And wondered what-in-the-hell-was-happening.
It was gun fire, of course, and this was the first time I'd heard it in real life. On television, yes. In films, obviously. But never with my own ears and not this close. Assuming they were live rounds, they had less aural punch than I imagined. More like a succession of pops, like a champaign cork. Just enough to frighten the life out of me.
I could still hear them and even as I neared the railway station the sound was still ever present. The juxtaposition was strange, being in the middle of what should be a quiet place were professional people live out their retirement, forever punctuated by gun shots.
One of the locals, a pensioner, was getting out of a car. Initially stopping her to question her about directions, I had ask her the inevitable. Do you live around here? Yes, she said. How do you live with it? The what? The gunshots? Oh, well, (she chuckled), after a while you stop hearing them ...
his own father James's play book
Journalism Like son, like father. Trust Adam Curtis to notice that when Zac Goldsmith appeared on Channel 4 News last week, he was following his own father James's play book:
"The week before, the Money Programme had put out a film that accused Goldsmith of being an "asset stripper". He came on to defend himself - and what then happens is just wonderful.Some sections, in which Goldsmith is quoting directly from a transcript and pointing at the presenter are eerie, although I think John Snow comes off best in comparison -- these 70s journalists don't have the arsenal to even begin to deal with someone pull their own show from beneath them. See also, Jon Stewart on Crossfire which I'm never tired of watching.
Goldsmith takes over the programme. He accuses the two presenters of lying and starts interviewing them. He says their attack on him is part of "a malignant disease that is infecting this country"
One of the journalists bleats weakly: 'It's more conventional on these programmes for me to be asking you the questions"
Movies When I Was Twelve.
Meme Confusing meme actually. The idea is ...
Since I was born at the end of October, here are 1987's films. Not a bad year all told, but it's worth noting how few of the relatively minor works aren't available now.
Go to Wikipedia (as the most convenient resource), and copy the list of movies that were released in the year when you were 12 years old. Mark in italics the movies that you've seen. (Not necessarily that year.) Mark in bold the movies that you own on video, DVD, Blu-Ray or whatever.... except its not clear if this is supposed to be the films that were released in the year you became twelve, which would be 1986 for me, or during the year spend at 12 years old, 1987. Also it doesn't cope with films I own but haven't seen yet.
Since I was born at the end of October, here are 1987's films. Not a bad year all told, but it's worth noting how few of the relatively minor works aren't available now.
"the back seat of my parents' car"
Music She & Him's M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel pick their musical love letters to California:
"My earliest music memories were driving around and being in the back seat of my parents' car and listening to music," Deschanel said. "I feel like I associate music with California and the sun and a particular sort of feeling. It’s something that’s important to me to express when I write music. When we record, California is definitely on our minds."I've inevitably put together a Spotify playlist and you can certainly hear the influence on Volume 2, particularly from the Albert Hammond.
"bent by a brogue"
History Mary, Queen of Golf:
"She loved St. Andrews, where she kept a small vacation cottage and often stayed incognito, doing her own shopping and cooking, and playing golf along the links by the Firth of Forth. She may well be responsible for the origin of the term "caddie": She had probably learned to play as a princess reared in France, where military cadets carried the royal clubs. It's thought that her accented pronunciation of the term was further bent by a brogue when she came to Scotland to assume the throne at barely 20 in 1561, after the death of her young husband, King Francis II of France. "Why has this never been filmed, not least in the 70s biopic Mary, Queen of Scots? Vanessa Redgrave stooped over a golfing tee with Glenda Jackson's hoard massing for invasion? [via]
Review (?): Inception.
Film Part of the entertainment in the run up to the release of Chis Nolan’s Inception has been watching reviewers attempting to write numerous paragraphs and offer well formed opinions but without giving anything away about the plot, even those who didn’t enjoy the film understanding that it’s best seen without any prior information. The apogee of this approach is in this month’s Empire Magazine, where Nev Pierce’s five star opus spends three pages making comparisons, talking about influences, mentioning legacy but trying desperately not to say very much about the story, but still I think inevitably manages to say too much.
Inception is a film which has to be approached cold. If you’ve seen any of the trailers, heard any interviews, you’ve probably seen and heard too much already. The enterprise was shrouded in mystery during shooting, like well, Cloverfield, only really becoming known when a very early teaser appeared online and baffled everybody. My own adventure began with that tease and from a glimpse of something in a corridor whilst flicking through the channels, my only exposure has been Mark Kermode’s review which again revealed just a little bit too much, but only enough to wet my appetite. Not until this morning did I really decide to attend, but only because I knew that my forced obliviousness would not survive until the dvd release.
With all of that in mind and before I launch into the mainstream of this symposium, imagine my utter surprise when, before the film began, we were treated to an advert for an entertainment website which included footage from the red carpet premieres of the new Twiglet film and Inception, with Leo being asked a facile question about the quality of the script and which included loads of footage of said film and him describing the plot. Luckily I managed to shut my eyes and put my fingers in ears before too much seeped out and in, but it’s almost as though the marketers are desperate to spoil a film no matter what.
Which is why I’m not going to join them and put the rest of this “review” behind one of those link things. Other than to say that all the self evident truths are in place. It's well acted, intelligently directed and is photographed beautifully, visually a masterpiece. And that it’s probably going to be one of the ten best films of the year and has various elements that have the potential to change the way mainstreams films are made, or at least what’s permissible in a mainstream film, in a number of ways, and that if you're a film fan of any description and don’t see it now, at the cinema, you’ll later regret it.
Inception is a film which has to be approached cold. If you’ve seen any of the trailers, heard any interviews, you’ve probably seen and heard too much already. The enterprise was shrouded in mystery during shooting, like well, Cloverfield, only really becoming known when a very early teaser appeared online and baffled everybody. My own adventure began with that tease and from a glimpse of something in a corridor whilst flicking through the channels, my only exposure has been Mark Kermode’s review which again revealed just a little bit too much, but only enough to wet my appetite. Not until this morning did I really decide to attend, but only because I knew that my forced obliviousness would not survive until the dvd release.
With all of that in mind and before I launch into the mainstream of this symposium, imagine my utter surprise when, before the film began, we were treated to an advert for an entertainment website which included footage from the red carpet premieres of the new Twiglet film and Inception, with Leo being asked a facile question about the quality of the script and which included loads of footage of said film and him describing the plot. Luckily I managed to shut my eyes and put my fingers in ears before too much seeped out and in, but it’s almost as though the marketers are desperate to spoil a film no matter what.
Which is why I’m not going to join them and put the rest of this “review” behind one of those link things. Other than to say that all the self evident truths are in place. It's well acted, intelligently directed and is photographed beautifully, visually a masterpiece. And that it’s probably going to be one of the ten best films of the year and has various elements that have the potential to change the way mainstreams films are made, or at least what’s permissible in a mainstream film, in a number of ways, and that if you're a film fan of any description and don’t see it now, at the cinema, you’ll later regret it.
a cover version.
Music Meanwhile, The Bangles's Going Down To Liverpool is a cover version.
Blog Critics has a review of the original:
Blog Critics has a review of the original:
Katrina Leskanich(of, yes, Katrina and the Waves -- ed)
fights for to keep her individualism in the bold "Going Down To Liverpool." [...] Audacious guitars open the single, setting a rebellious tone. Katrina Leskanich snarls to her friend, who is looking for a job, that he's missing out on enjoying the beauty of England."Listen again in this very vinyl video at YouTube.
captured it
Music I read Laura Barton on The Shiver's Beauty ...
Now?
It's available on Spotify. And Barton's captured it brilliantly. Especially the opening bars and Zarriello's voice which has the yawning quality of Harvey Pekar which seems apt at this moment. Thanks Laura.
"Beauty is essentially a portrait of how it feels to be in love, an all-consuming, all-engulfing love. Against the sparsest of guitars, Zarriello draws out its territory, spans its circumference and its strength. "I need to grieve and need to need and be in love," he sings. "I give my love and all my love to you my love."... then breath deeply trying to imagine what the song is like. In the past, even five years ago, this might have been my only experience of it (unless I remembered to order the cd assuming it was even available and I could afford it).
Now?
It's available on Spotify. And Barton's captured it brilliantly. Especially the opening bars and Zarriello's voice which has the yawning quality of Harvey Pekar which seems apt at this moment. Thanks Laura.
"look upbeat.."
Journalism Roger Ebert offers some tips for critics, some which I've actually taken to heart (especially in terms of not being afraid to give a negative review) but there is one which I'm already a big fan of:
I'm so out of the habit of watching trailers on seeing the promo for the Robert De Niro headliner Everybody's Fine the other day I was so shocked at the length and how much of the storyline was being given away that I had to hit the skip button half way through. Empire Magazine used to have a rule that the longer the trailer the worse a film is. I wonder if that still stands.
"Trailers. Have nothing to do with them. Gene Siskel hated them so much he would stand outside a theater until they were over. If he was already seated in the middle of a crowded theater, he wouldI don't as a rule, even going to the toilet during the trailers when I'm at the cinema hoping against hope I don't miss the start of the film. As Ebert suggests, trailers actively lie to you about the film's content or else tell you too much about the films content for you to later care about ultimately seeing the thing.shout "fire!"plug his ears and stare at the floor. Trailers love to spoil all the best gags in a comedy, hint at plot twists in a thriller, and make every film, however dire, look upbeat.."
I'm so out of the habit of watching trailers on seeing the promo for the Robert De Niro headliner Everybody's Fine the other day I was so shocked at the length and how much of the storyline was being given away that I had to hit the skip button half way through. Empire Magazine used to have a rule that the longer the trailer the worse a film is. I wonder if that still stands.
30 Campbell Scott
Hamlet played by Campbell Scott.
Directed by Campbell Scott and Eric Simonson.
The Hallmark Hamlet. Though I see from looking at the website, the actual channel in the UK has now become the “home” of reruns and first runs of the likes of legal drama Damages and legal drama Law & Order, my actual experience of Hallmark productions are the fantasy and fairy tale adaptations and “true” life stories that still sometimes populate the post 3pm slot on (channel) Five.
That meant my usual pre-conceived notions going into Scott’s production (despite my love for his directorial debut Big Night) were skewed towards expecting to see what Hamlet would be like as a US tv movie and to large extent that’s what this is, with a mis-en-scene designed to fit very specifically within Hallmark’s house style as it was in 2000 and quite irritating minor-key piano noodling which litters the soundtrack.
The accompanying advertorial on the dvd also points to an attempt to make sure that it doesn’t run counter to the rest of Hallmark’s programming as each of the actors is wheeled out, given an voiceover explanation of their acting credentials and allowed a thirty second sound bite which generally consists of them explaining how exciting the play is and how accessible they’re trying to make it, including the original language which would seem like a prerequisite.
This documentary's hogwash dipped voiceover implores the viewer to enjoy “the immortal prose of William Shakespeare” (he did write some pretty good verse too) and refuses to give much in the way of background to the play with the exception of such wild speculation as “Hamlet, this literary masterpiece, scripted by William Shakespeare on the eve of his own father’s death” (which is interesting considering that the dating of the play still hasn’t been fixed).
Setting the story on the edge of New York at the beginning of the last century, the film itself is vibrant and often thrilling because Scott and co-director Eric Simonson make some strong choices with the text that seem designed to counter accusations that this will simply be an slightly inoffensive, orthodox version. As Roscoe Lee Browne chuckles in the fluffumentary, he told Scott that he wouldn’t ever play and old buffer like Polonius, only to be reassured by Scott that he still wouldn’t be.
First big decision: Scott’s Hamlet is mad. Not just mad, suicidal or at the very least self harming. Scott shifts “To Be…” as early as I’ve ever seen it – before the fishmonger (we’re unsure how much Polonius has observed) – but just after he’s seen slashing unsuccessfully into a vain (the scabs visible throughout the rest of the film). Sprawled on the floor, this Hamlet isn’t just rhetorically musing on the question for show, but genuinely considering his own mortality.
And because from the moment he learns of Claudius’s deeds until he’s shipped off to England, the prince loses not just his mirth but all of his senses, sometimes seen talking to himself even if a soliloquy isn’t forthcoming. When Hamlet asks Laertes’s pardon for the murder of his father before the duel, rather than simply blaming the fault on his feigned madness, he’s asking if he can be held responsible for Polonius’s death because he was really not in his right state of mind.
Second big decision: Scott justifies this by turning up the supernatural quotient of the play to near Macbeth proportions. This Hamlet doesn’t just hear the matter of his father’s death, he feels it as the ghost brings about a hallucination, the prince experiencing the poisoning, blood flowing from his ears, a kind of tinnitus infusing the soundtrack. As he stalks the halls, the whisper of Hamlet Snr (“Remember, remember”) and that whine follow him about, demonstrating how he's now all but consumed by the experience.
And the ghost keeps reappearing; not just in Gertrude’s chamber, but holding Hamlet’s sword back as he’s about to off a praying Claudius and at the point of death. But of course there’s an ambiguity to these appearances; are these really new emergences of the figure or manifestations of Hamlet’s crumpled state of mind. We assume it must be the latter and then Claudius sees his brother in the face of a player during The Mousetrap and then we’re not so sure. It’s like an episode of Lost with royalty rather than polar bears.
As well as Scott’s layered performance, Blair Brown makes some sense of Gertrude’s woolly motivation towards the end by playing up her belief in her son seeming not entirely unhappy that Polonius is out of the picture (shock at the deed, not shock at the outcome) even if she’s weakened slightly by Scott’s decision (and I’ve not seen this before) to cut “There is a willow…” which whilst having the effect of strengthening the opening of the gravedigger scene does mean that Brown doesn’t have the chance to give her character’s one great moment of compassion.
Within her own breath of madness, Lisa Gay Hamilton’s Ophelia appears wearing her father’s jacket and gives an eerie, uncanny imitation of Roscoe Lee Browne’s Polonius that’s also rather breathtaking. But this is generally a good cast with only Roger Guenveur Smith’s passionless Laertes failing to convince, at no point seeming to be the rapscallion that his father would need to keep an eye on as he creates mayhem in Paris. If his whispery understated performance was a directorial choice, it would only make sense if Reynaldo had been cut. He wasn’t.
In total, then, not the first production of the play I'd show to someone, but an interesting interpretation. Some elements, such as Ophelia seeing Hamlet joke about her father's corpse only really resonate if you're aware that in the original text the stage directions make it impossible. But this does also feature an excellent version of The Mousetrap in which the players are dressed in what seems like the very Elizabethan period costume that a Hallmark audience coming to the play cold might have been expecting...
[Scott has given a rather good interview about this film but he doesn't give very much away. Most of his choices, including casting African American actors in Polonius's family seem to be in the order of "It seemed like a good idea..." but without much of an underlying motivation. He even says, "It's hard because people think there's an alternative agenda. And the fact is, there is none." Nonetheless, a lot of thought has clear gone into how this version fits together, even if it has seeped in from previous stage productions Scott has been involved in.]
"Nothing dirty or gross, please."
Music On the subject of My So-Called Life, or at least the soundtrack, Juliana Hatfield is attempting the patron model for recording music, producing personalised songs with a $1000 price tag, which will be heard just by the people who request them:
"... tell me what you would like me to put in the song — your name, your hobbies, your thoughts, your problems, your loves, your favorite things, your job — tell me something about yourself so I can create a song around a version of you that I can absorb from what you tell me. Nothing dirty or gross, please. I don’t want you to send me a long book but rather some impression -s- and your name — to give me something to work with. I will work on a first-come, first-served basis. Please give me three months (starting when payment is made and personal details have been sent) to complete the writing and recording and delivery (by mail) of the song."I expect this will be something we'll be seeing (and hearing) more of.
"uncommonly beautiful"
TV My So-Called Life Re-watched is an effort to view one of my top-5 favourite television shows (I even made a t-shirt) on a weekly basis and conference about it on Twitter and then a blog (rather like one of Behind The Sofa's old Stripped Down sessions but with live in-episode commentary).
By way of introduction, Diane Shipley describes what the show meant to her:
By way of introduction, Diane Shipley describes what the show meant to her:
"My favourite episode, The Zit, perfectly addresses teen self-consciousness. Like all the episodes, it should be studied by anyone interested in storytelling in any genre. Ostensibly about a pimple which everyone keeps commenting on, thus making Angela more and more sensitive about it, the ep skewers the idea that physical perfection is important and shows our heroine tentatively come to terms with who she is and how she looks (no makeover required - revolutionary, even 16 years later). Even though my own zits were ten times worse than Angela’s, I didn’t resent her: I totally related to her. Claire Danes was uncommonly beautiful, but I couldn’t hold it against her because MSCL showed that life wasn’t easy for any teenager. (Or any adult - her parents are remarkably fleshed out as well.)"I'll see you Tuesday, I expect.