Blindness and The Duchess
Today I saw two good films. The first one is Blindness. It is based on the fantastic novel by Jose Saramago. The film does not live up to the book but I didn't expect it to. It is a very hard book to adapt and I have to give credit to director Fernando Meirelles for attempting this. He made a very interesting film.
In an unnamed city a man (Yusuke Iseya) goes blind. But this is a white blindness and not a dark one. But his blindness appears to be contagious and many people become blind. The man goes to see a doctor (Mark Ruffalo) and the next day he is blind. But for some strange reason, the doctor's wife (Julianne Moore) can still see. Along the way we meet the Thief (Don McKellar, who also wrote the screenplay) who stole the first blind mans' car, the girl with the sunglasses (Alice Braga), the man with the eye patch (Danny Glover) and the bartender/king of ward three (Gael Garcia Bernal) among others.
The blind are taken to a hospital and have to stay in their assigned wards. You can only imagine what horrific events follow. The film version indicates that there is a government coverup, which wouldn't surprise me. But the overall theme of the story is how humans react towards one another in times of crisis. It is not a pretty picture. But aren't humans animals? They are and here we see them at their most primative.
Blindness has been unfairly critcized. While not a great film it certainly has a number of things going for it. The story is a timely one. And Moore's performance is outstanding. There were others - particulary Bernal - who gave fine performances. Also, the the look of the film is beautiful and eerie. And it certainly gives one much food for thought. After all, isn't it possible that something like this could happen in the crazy world that we live in?! I think it could.
The Duchess is based on real life events and is adapted from a book by Amanda Foreman. When she was very young Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley) was married off to the older Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes). Her mother Lady Spence (Charlotte Rampling) thought that it was an ideal match. But it certainly wasn't. The Duke is rather cold and his main objective is for the Duchess to give him a male heir. That doesn't happen so quickly.
The Duke is allowed to have mistresses, much to Georgina's distress. But he is a Duke and back in those days women didn't really count that much. Add to the mix Lady Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell) as the Duke's special mistress and Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper) as the man who loves Georgiana and who she really loves and you have quite a mix.
I found the story quite fascinating. Director Saul Dibb did a good job and the film is quite lush to look at. Knightley is growing as an actress and this may be her best role yet. Cooper and Atwell are very good and the great Rampling is just marvelous. But best of all is Fiennes. He is just outstanding at the cold, emotionless Duke. At the end you actually feel sorry for him.
After the film I read something about the real Duchess that was posted at the theater. Her life was even spicier than portrayed in the film. Ah, if only the filmmaker would have take a bit more risk and shown this. But still and all, The Duchess is a worthwhile film as is Blindness.
In an unnamed city a man (Yusuke Iseya) goes blind. But this is a white blindness and not a dark one. But his blindness appears to be contagious and many people become blind. The man goes to see a doctor (Mark Ruffalo) and the next day he is blind. But for some strange reason, the doctor's wife (Julianne Moore) can still see. Along the way we meet the Thief (Don McKellar, who also wrote the screenplay) who stole the first blind mans' car, the girl with the sunglasses (Alice Braga), the man with the eye patch (Danny Glover) and the bartender/king of ward three (Gael Garcia Bernal) among others.
The blind are taken to a hospital and have to stay in their assigned wards. You can only imagine what horrific events follow. The film version indicates that there is a government coverup, which wouldn't surprise me. But the overall theme of the story is how humans react towards one another in times of crisis. It is not a pretty picture. But aren't humans animals? They are and here we see them at their most primative.
Blindness has been unfairly critcized. While not a great film it certainly has a number of things going for it. The story is a timely one. And Moore's performance is outstanding. There were others - particulary Bernal - who gave fine performances. Also, the the look of the film is beautiful and eerie. And it certainly gives one much food for thought. After all, isn't it possible that something like this could happen in the crazy world that we live in?! I think it could.
The Duchess is based on real life events and is adapted from a book by Amanda Foreman. When she was very young Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley) was married off to the older Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes). Her mother Lady Spence (Charlotte Rampling) thought that it was an ideal match. But it certainly wasn't. The Duke is rather cold and his main objective is for the Duchess to give him a male heir. That doesn't happen so quickly.
The Duke is allowed to have mistresses, much to Georgina's distress. But he is a Duke and back in those days women didn't really count that much. Add to the mix Lady Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell) as the Duke's special mistress and Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper) as the man who loves Georgiana and who she really loves and you have quite a mix.
I found the story quite fascinating. Director Saul Dibb did a good job and the film is quite lush to look at. Knightley is growing as an actress and this may be her best role yet. Cooper and Atwell are very good and the great Rampling is just marvelous. But best of all is Fiennes. He is just outstanding at the cold, emotionless Duke. At the end you actually feel sorry for him.
After the film I read something about the real Duchess that was posted at the theater. Her life was even spicier than portrayed in the film. Ah, if only the filmmaker would have take a bit more risk and shown this. But still and all, The Duchess is a worthwhile film as is Blindness.
posted by Film Fanatic | 7:39 PM
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