To give you a context for my reactions to the film, I'm going to describe how I came into contact with it because I think the atmosphere you watch something in definitley affects how you feel about it and how it affects you. In order to do my presentation I bought the film and watched it by myself in my living room (which has a fairly large flatscreen). It was around 9 or so at night, and I sat on the couch with a notebook on my lap and all the lights on (I'm really glad I left the lights on because otherwise I would've ended up in a ball on the floor). At one point, my dad came in to tell me something. Before he actually came into the room I could feel him standing in the doorway and it really irritated me. It's hard to describe, but I didn't want him to see any part of what I was watching since he wasn't familiar with it and I was in the middle of the film, which actually relates to what Isaak was saying during discussion about the movie not seeming to be made for people who hadn't read the book. He was sort of interrupting the intensity of the movie. Usually I like watching really depressing or really scary movies with other people around because it sort of calms me down and reminds me that what's going on isn't real. But, with this movie, even though I had such a hard time with it I'm really glad I watched it by myself. It's very unique in that it really doesn't have the same feel or leave the same impression as other films that might be in the same category or deal with similar themes. It's a film that gives you a lot to contemplate and for me, at least, that definitely was more effective in solitude (actually not quite true, my dog did sit on the couch with me for part of it).
A few people in class commented that the elements that accentuated the depth of the darkness in the film were really unnecessary and that Franco should have maintained some of the more humorous tones that are in the book. This is a movie that its hard to get the full feel of it without watching the entire thing start to finish, but I disagree that Franco should've put in more humor. While it isn't exactly the same as the book, while you're watching it it doesn't feel like it should have been presented in any other way. The really tough scenes (which I didn't show any of) especially tie all the effects Franco uses together. They make you feel like, yes, this really is as tough as what I'm seeing and the members of the family really are going through this much crap and there isn't really anything great about the journey or anything to laugh at. A scene that just made a weight fall on my chest- I never cried during the movie, it was heavy but it wasn't a crying movie- was when Dewey Dell goes to the pharmacy and then later goes to the cellar. It actually shows MacGowan in the act of raping her and he's talking to her while he's doing it and you just see this look of complete loss and desperation on Dewey Dell's face. Seeing these more graphic and heartbreaking scenes- another being all the scenes having to do with Cash's leg- makes you feel like the "creepy" music and slow motion and everything totally fits. In response to what Shaleen said about the scene with Darl being humorous, it's doesn't seem so funny when you watch the film because it's right around Cash's leg being cut off.
I could go on for pages about my responses to the film but I think this is a good stopping point. I just wanted to get in a few things that I couldn't really talk about in class.
I'm struck by your description of this as a film that's better viewed alone. And I definitely know what you mean; we often think of watching a movie as a social kind of experience (in a crowded theater, in a crowded living room), but you describe Franco's _AILD_ as more like *reading*, which is (almost) always a private activity. I agree too that aspects of this adaptation are very hard to watch, but in a way that seems entirely justified artistically--there's not an issue, for me, of a sense of the director exploiting these characters for lurid or sensational effect. We are profoundly aligned with the Bundrens' collective points of view in the film, and we are "on the wagon" as they go through their odyssey.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your presentation on Friday. You captured the atmosphere and tone of this film very well.