Don't know how many times I have picked it up over many years, just could not finish ploughing my way through 'Anna Karenina'. Spotting the latest film version available on pay-for-view, I watched it. Kyra Knightly is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful and the costumes were brilliant, but her lover was not well-cast; his baby face and cookie-duster moustache rendered him ridiculous. A woman with the beauty of a Kyra Knightly falling head-over-heels with a fop like that? Would never happen. The role called for a swoon-inducing brand like Pierce Brosnan. Jude Law, however, as the long-suffering husband was very aptly cast.
'War and Peace' is another tome I could not finish. Talk about turgid! And years ago, when I fancied myself a bit of a philosopher, I tried to rototill my brain through Robert Pirsig's 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'. Forget about it. Never did figure out what it was about and anyone who claims they did is a liar.
Also decided to see what all the Canadian fuss was about 'Agro', the Ben Affleck movie about how CIA operative Ben singlehandedly rescues American fugitives during one of the original Iran debacles. Watching it, I got an inkling. Naturally, the Americans fancy themselves the main characters, with Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor reduced to pouring drinks while wife, Pat, does dishes and smiles wanely. Seriously, they played a much more key role than this vapid portrayal. They had to have, but in true American Hollywood tradition, they were little more than walk-on, bit players.
It was nice, however, to see that the epilogue, credits and a few scenes had been revised to give the Canadian role a boost. Why, they even had a Canadian, Victor Garber, playing Taylor. Folks, if you don't remember how gorgeous Ken Taylor was, trust me, Garber does not do him justice.
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The WHOLE BLOODY MOVIE does NOT do CANADA justice - therefore I hope Lincoln get the
ReplyDeleteAcademy Award!! Miss you, going to a big
Academy Awards Party. Having a St. Patrick's Day
Party for neighbour of 16yrs who is moving away.
Keep in touch, good articles, thanks. B.A.M.F.
Oh, Lincoln will win. Afterall, it's the US of A and Daniel Day-Lewis' performance can't be topped. And I I blogged earlier, Tommy-Lee Jones will get it because he is shown in bed with his black servant.
ReplyDeleteNot being a learned man , leaving school prematurely in pursuit of a paycheck and a sports car, I never had the need nor felt the compunction to read Tolstoy. However back then, had Labatt Breweries printed a sentence or two on the label of each beer bottle, I would have completed not only Tolstoy's entire works but Dostoevsky and Checkov as well.
ReplyDeleteSeparately but related, if there is one woman on the face of this earth for whom I would wish to be a younger man, it would be the French actress Sophie Marceau. Her English-speaking roles have been la plus belle reine francaise to Mel Gibson'r 'Braveheart' and the villain to Pierce Brosnan's James Bond thriller, 'The World is not Enough'.
One of her French-speaking movies was 'Anna Karenina', recently watched. I did not know the story and assuming that Tolstoy's novels were epics to be sure, but Cinderella stories nonetheless, I was most surprised that Anna Karenina is a self-centered, selfish wench whose life is nothing like a Harlequin Romance.
I believe I understand your reasoning, as would most movie-goers, that a stunning woman would not throw her life away on anyone but the most handsome of cads. Relating this to real life, I believe it is the swashbuckling, confident manner that is the attraction, more than the looks.
We are applying normal standards to a non-standard situation. Much like the type of woman who remains in relationship that few of us would tolerate, she cannot respect a man who does not treat her 'brusquely', to be polite.
Having tried to be a "White Knight" to such a woman, it was I, in the end, who was walked upon.