raincitygirl (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
raincitygirl) wrote2013-06-30 11:21 am
raincitygirl) wrote2013-06-30 11:21 am
(no subject)
Saw Much Ado About Nothing with kerri and wanderer yesterday, and it was a lot of fun. We had to trek out to the only theatre in Vancouver that was playing it, naturally. And my feet hurt because I was wearing shoes I'd discovered at the back of the cupboard. I had totally forgotten why I stopped wearing those shoes in the first place: they give me blisters. But enough about my feet, back to the movie. Cutting for rambling thoughts:
The black and white was disorienting at first. I'm not used to seeing iPhones and so forth in black and white. I get why they did it that way, though: The low production values are probably less visible in black and white than in colour.
Personally, I think Alexis Denisof looked better with the beard than without. Which is odd, because i don't usually like beards on men, but he has a great beard face. I was sad when he shaved it off.
Amy Acker was great. I never really liked her as Fred (too much of a manic pixie dreamgirl), but loved her as Illyria. And her turn as Doctor Saunders was one of the bright spots in Dollhouse.
I want Joss Whedon's house! I am officially jealous of him having that house. Apparently he's married to an architect and she designed the house. Come, Mrs. Whedon, design a house for me. But do it pro bono, please. I think it would be slightly weird, though, to be living in that house and know that moviegoers all over the world now know exactly what your house looks like, inside and out. That KITCHEN, though. I don't even like to cook, but I would so change my mind if I could cook in a kitchen like that.
I loved the arrangement for the song "Sigh No More", and the fancy dress party scene in general, particularly the thing with the acrobats.
That was a *very* white cast. Also, they could have easily cut that line of Claudio's about the Ethiope.
I think it was on Twitter, but it might have been LJ, someone remarked that so much about the characters' poor life choices could be explained by the fact that they're all serious alcoholics. There was a WHOLE lotta drinking going on.
The hard drinking actually worked for me. For instance, having Don Pedro semi-propose to Beatrice while literally falling down drunk, and thus obviously not being serious about it. That was one thing that didn't work for me in the Kenneth Branagh version, having Beatrice turn him down so quickly when he's an insanely good catch. Also a dick, but she doesn't know that yet when she shuts down his hints.
I think it wasnwhepcat who observed that Claudio is actually semi-sympathetic in this version, about which I was extremely doubtful going in. Having seen the Branagh version and a staged version, plus having read the play back in the dark ages, I hated both Claudios with the power of a thousand burning suns, and I couldn't see how any actor could possibly make Claudio not be a dick. But she's right, Kranz kinda sorta pulls it off. The key factor for me was that when Hero faints after he repulses her at the wedding, he pauses and tries to go back. Don Pedro has to remind him to keep going. It suggested that he was weak, easily led, and pathologically jealous, but not quite as cold-hearted as he's usually portrayed. So Claudio was still a dick, but less so than usual. Not that I have high hopes of him and Hero having a happy marriage.
I have to say the Reed Diamond Don Pedro worked better for me than the Denzel Washington Don Pedro, because Washington seemed to be playing it like Don Pedro was a good guy. Diamond has no compunction about letting Don Pedro be a dick. Oh, and I loved Claudio's befuddlement when he hears Don Pedro's plan to woo Hero in his place. Because really it's a stupid plan, and if it weren't his boss proposing it, clearly Claudio would've said so.
Dogberry was actually FUNNY! I have never seen a version of Dogberry that I actually found funny, but Whedon and Nathan Fillion made me like him, and his bumbling crew of incompetent watchmen. He's just so earnest. Someone observed that it's the Dunning-Kruger effect at work. Dogberry is incompetent, but is genuinely convinced he's a good watchman.
I loved the wedding photographer frantically snapping shots even at the most inappropriate moments.
Speaking of inappropriate, Beatrice getting repeatedly groped by the nameless party guest as she tried to talk to her friends was weird. Funny, but weird. I suspect it was in there to show how little power Beatrice and Hero have compared with the men in their lives. And Acker was great when Beatrice raged against the system in her "if I were a man" speech.
I actually liked that Beatrice and Benedick had a drunken one-night stand long before the events of the movie. It was a nice touch to have Beatrice pretending like mad to be fast asleep the morning after, as Benedick sits there, obviously debating with himself over whether to wake her up or just slip out and pretend it never happened.
Of course, that bit of backstory conflicts mightily with the whole "Hero is impure" plot. But I'm willing to overlook that, and pretend Claudio's anger is more about Hero supposedly fucking another man the night before their wedding, and less about her being passed off as a virgin. Also, I swear they cut some of Leonato's lines later on in that scene when he turns on Hero. Doesn't make it any less of a dick move on Leonato's part to believe Claudio and Don Pedro over his own daughter, but softens him a tiny little bit.
As for Hero, the modern dress actually hurt the plausibility factor there because it's easier to imagine a woman living in a pre-modern society actually taking Claudio back than one who lives in the twenty-first century and has options. Not saying it couldn't happen now, but it seems rather less like a foregone conclusion. Of course, the movie exists in a weird anomalous space: they have iGadgets and cars and chlorinated swimming pools, but women are still second class citizens with no power.
I liked Sean Maher as Don John, especially the look on his face when he's at the wedding and everything's going to hell in a whisky-soaked hand basket. Speaking of looks at the wedding, Denisof has Benedick give a great "What the fuck is going ON?" look when the handbasket is careening down towards hell. Of course, me liking Maher's Don John could be partly down to Keanu Reeves being so spectacularly awful in the same role in the Branagh version. I have no memories, either bad or good, of Don John in the one staged version I saw.
But ultimately this is Beatrice and Benedick's show, and the rest are just providing plot for them to react to. Denisof and Acker have great chemistry, which is the main thing.
I'm not saying it's a perfect adaptation. It definitely has some rough spots, and might have benefited from more rehearsal time and more takes. But I highly doubt Whedon could have gotten the movie made if he hadn't been funding it himself, and there's a limit to how much money even a rich man is going to be prepared to throw at a niche project like this one. Certainly he couldn't have made the movie with this cast if he'd gone in for studio funding. We'd have Jennifer Aniston or someone as Beatrice, to bring in the box office. Which would be a shame, because I liked this cast, and thought they did a good job with the play.
kerri and wanderer yesterday, and it was a lot of fun. We had to trek out to the only theatre in Vancouver that was playing it, naturally. And my feet hurt because I was wearing shoes I'd discovered at the back of the cupboard. I had totally forgotten why I stopped wearing those shoes in the first place: they give me blisters. But enough about my feet, back to the movie. Cutting for rambling thoughts:The black and white was disorienting at first. I'm not used to seeing iPhones and so forth in black and white. I get why they did it that way, though: The low production values are probably less visible in black and white than in colour.
Personally, I think Alexis Denisof looked better with the beard than without. Which is odd, because i don't usually like beards on men, but he has a great beard face. I was sad when he shaved it off.
Amy Acker was great. I never really liked her as Fred (too much of a manic pixie dreamgirl), but loved her as Illyria. And her turn as Doctor Saunders was one of the bright spots in Dollhouse.
I want Joss Whedon's house! I am officially jealous of him having that house. Apparently he's married to an architect and she designed the house. Come, Mrs. Whedon, design a house for me. But do it pro bono, please. I think it would be slightly weird, though, to be living in that house and know that moviegoers all over the world now know exactly what your house looks like, inside and out. That KITCHEN, though. I don't even like to cook, but I would so change my mind if I could cook in a kitchen like that.
I loved the arrangement for the song "Sigh No More", and the fancy dress party scene in general, particularly the thing with the acrobats.
That was a *very* white cast. Also, they could have easily cut that line of Claudio's about the Ethiope.
I think it was on Twitter, but it might have been LJ, someone remarked that so much about the characters' poor life choices could be explained by the fact that they're all serious alcoholics. There was a WHOLE lotta drinking going on.
The hard drinking actually worked for me. For instance, having Don Pedro semi-propose to Beatrice while literally falling down drunk, and thus obviously not being serious about it. That was one thing that didn't work for me in the Kenneth Branagh version, having Beatrice turn him down so quickly when he's an insanely good catch. Also a dick, but she doesn't know that yet when she shuts down his hints.
I think it was
nwhepcat who observed that Claudio is actually semi-sympathetic in this version, about which I was extremely doubtful going in. Having seen the Branagh version and a staged version, plus having read the play back in the dark ages, I hated both Claudios with the power of a thousand burning suns, and I couldn't see how any actor could possibly make Claudio not be a dick. But she's right, Kranz kinda sorta pulls it off. The key factor for me was that when Hero faints after he repulses her at the wedding, he pauses and tries to go back. Don Pedro has to remind him to keep going. It suggested that he was weak, easily led, and pathologically jealous, but not quite as cold-hearted as he's usually portrayed. So Claudio was still a dick, but less so than usual. Not that I have high hopes of him and Hero having a happy marriage. I have to say the Reed Diamond Don Pedro worked better for me than the Denzel Washington Don Pedro, because Washington seemed to be playing it like Don Pedro was a good guy. Diamond has no compunction about letting Don Pedro be a dick. Oh, and I loved Claudio's befuddlement when he hears Don Pedro's plan to woo Hero in his place. Because really it's a stupid plan, and if it weren't his boss proposing it, clearly Claudio would've said so.
Dogberry was actually FUNNY! I have never seen a version of Dogberry that I actually found funny, but Whedon and Nathan Fillion made me like him, and his bumbling crew of incompetent watchmen. He's just so earnest. Someone observed that it's the Dunning-Kruger effect at work. Dogberry is incompetent, but is genuinely convinced he's a good watchman.
I loved the wedding photographer frantically snapping shots even at the most inappropriate moments.
Speaking of inappropriate, Beatrice getting repeatedly groped by the nameless party guest as she tried to talk to her friends was weird. Funny, but weird. I suspect it was in there to show how little power Beatrice and Hero have compared with the men in their lives. And Acker was great when Beatrice raged against the system in her "if I were a man" speech.
I actually liked that Beatrice and Benedick had a drunken one-night stand long before the events of the movie. It was a nice touch to have Beatrice pretending like mad to be fast asleep the morning after, as Benedick sits there, obviously debating with himself over whether to wake her up or just slip out and pretend it never happened.
Of course, that bit of backstory conflicts mightily with the whole "Hero is impure" plot. But I'm willing to overlook that, and pretend Claudio's anger is more about Hero supposedly fucking another man the night before their wedding, and less about her being passed off as a virgin. Also, I swear they cut some of Leonato's lines later on in that scene when he turns on Hero. Doesn't make it any less of a dick move on Leonato's part to believe Claudio and Don Pedro over his own daughter, but softens him a tiny little bit.
As for Hero, the modern dress actually hurt the plausibility factor there because it's easier to imagine a woman living in a pre-modern society actually taking Claudio back than one who lives in the twenty-first century and has options. Not saying it couldn't happen now, but it seems rather less like a foregone conclusion. Of course, the movie exists in a weird anomalous space: they have iGadgets and cars and chlorinated swimming pools, but women are still second class citizens with no power.
I liked Sean Maher as Don John, especially the look on his face when he's at the wedding and everything's going to hell in a whisky-soaked hand basket. Speaking of looks at the wedding, Denisof has Benedick give a great "What the fuck is going ON?" look when the handbasket is careening down towards hell. Of course, me liking Maher's Don John could be partly down to Keanu Reeves being so spectacularly awful in the same role in the Branagh version. I have no memories, either bad or good, of Don John in the one staged version I saw.
But ultimately this is Beatrice and Benedick's show, and the rest are just providing plot for them to react to. Denisof and Acker have great chemistry, which is the main thing.
I'm not saying it's a perfect adaptation. It definitely has some rough spots, and might have benefited from more rehearsal time and more takes. But I highly doubt Whedon could have gotten the movie made if he hadn't been funding it himself, and there's a limit to how much money even a rich man is going to be prepared to throw at a niche project like this one. Certainly he couldn't have made the movie with this cast if he'd gone in for studio funding. We'd have Jennifer Aniston or someone as Beatrice, to bring in the box office. Which would be a shame, because I liked this cast, and thought they did a good job with the play.