the broomstitch

Helen Mirren chanting. Oh yes....

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Indeed. I felt very remiss for not including her in my original entry, a situation that is now corrected.

Edited Date: Jan. 24th, 2008 05:18 pm (UTC)

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Helen Mirren is on my list of who I'd like to be when I grow up. My friends and family limit how often I'm allowed to watch The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.

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"...The wife of a barbaric crime boss engages in a secretive romance with a gentle bookseller between meals at her husband's restaurant. Food, colour coding, sex, murder, torture and cannibalism are the exotic fare in this beautifully filmed but brutally uncompromising modern fable which has been interpreted as an allegory for Thatcherism..."

Color coding and cannibalism? This movie seems to cover all possible bases. I should tell my wife to add it to our NetFlix queue.

As for your growing up into Helen Mirren... One could think of worse (faaaaaar worse) fates. Heheheh.

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You should have her add it to the queueueueueue. The costumes are by Jean Paul Gautier.

Hey, just because I own and wear Carhartt does not mean I can't appreciate couture.

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If I ask you what Carhartt is, will that reveal on my part an abysmal taste in clothing? (Maybe it will, but that didn't keep me from enjoying British TV series House of Eliott of the early 1990s.)

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Nope, Carhartt's are work clothes. Sturdy, not especially fashion forward.

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fledgist.livejournal.com

How often is that?

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They don't let me pick it for movie night more than twice a year. I just love that movie. Actually, I seem to enjoy Peter Greenaway films. They're usually a trifle, um, off kilter one way or another. The Pillow Book has Ewan McGregor with full frontal nudity, and it is a strange, compelling story.

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Twice a year? That's not so bad. Me, I watch At The Earth's Core at least once a year and, had you seen it, you'd think that was once too many. Then again I liked Wing Commander and you mocked me for it. Humph.

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fledgist.livejournal.com

I'll have to see that, then.

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It's been too long since I've seen that movie. I think I've got an old taped-off-the-TV version of it somewhere hereabouts...

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Some things in it would probably have you rolling your eyes, and I'm not just talking about Uther doing the dirty deed with Igraine while he's still wearing his armor. Still, I can appreciate what it was trying to do while others can't and absolutely hatehatehate it. I can lend you the DVD if you want.

One more thing... It's interesting to notice the movie's actors who are well known... Nicol Williamson already had a movie career, but we now have Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne and, of course, Helen Mirren.

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Oh, I remember it. It's iconic. But it's been so long that I didn't realize Morgana was Helen Mirren. :) (Though I knew Patrick Stewart immediately, since I was a huge TNG fan as a teen.)

Also, I second The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover. It's amazing visually, and the story just packs a serious punch.

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Iconic? So that's what people call it in your part of the world. Heheheh... That being said, did you ever see the miniseries based on Mary Stewart's Merlin books? I wasn't too crazy about it, but it had Sam Neill as Merlin, which made up for Martin Short's acting.

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I was never crazy about Mary Stewart's books anyway. MZB spoiled me for any but the most feminist reading of Morgana. I think I taped it, but never watched it.

And yes, iconic, for me as a youngster of the time. Just like Lynch's Dune. :P

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Speaking of MZB's Avalon... What did you think of the miniseries? I've never read the book, which may be why I kept thinking that the adaptation was missing something. For example, whatever Morgana's own religion was, we were never really told what its tenets were, except that it was a religion for women and by women. I figured that the TV people didn't want to upset Bible thumpers so they cut that out.

One more thing... Do you know who actor James Coburn was? I remember reading an interview with him, where he mentionned MZB's book. It seems like he loved it so much that he had bought the rights and reallyreallyreally wanted to play Merlin.

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Another adaptation I haven't seen yet. It's easily gettable, I just haven't. I really enjoyed the books, though. Well, the first one most of all. It's been a while. And, yes...there's probably a lot of religious detail missing. There's a lot of good/icky pagan stuff in the book that I'm sure didn't make it to the movie...

I can picture James Coburn in my head. He'd have made a great Merlin, I think. but I picture him always with a cigar in his mouth, and that would have been a bit incongruous. Heh.

Edited Date: Feb. 1st, 2008 04:36 pm (UTC)

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Great. Now you've got me thinking of Groucho Marx as Merlin.

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fledgist.livejournal.com

I now need to see it again.

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whl.livejournal.com

Actually, I always like Nicol Williamson's performances, and hadn't even realized that was Helen Mirren...

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