This beautiful discovery turned out to be a movie I can watch again and again, so here are a few things that I especially like about it.
While heavily based on the character of Maleficent from Disney’s animated classic Sleeping Beauty (especially in terms of looks and diction), who is an evil, jealous figure through and through, one doesn’t permanently remember that fact. Instead, combined with respectful, measured contributions from the original, a fully-fledged, individual character emerges in Angelina Jolie’s portrayal. This is not just another backstory of a famous villain supported by the “she’s actually good” plotline. She branches off from the animated Maleficent without seeming like a spin-off.
We feel her pain, oh, we feel it, and we cry with her! We’re horrified. Just give the fairy her damn wings back! For all the trauma, it’s one of the best scenes in the movie, showing the bond of flight to Maleficent’s identity.
Despite this horrible attack, she did not let herself be crippled by it. Instead, she became fetchingly badass (though you are secretly hoping she won’t get murderous urges, since this is a new movie, and there must be some other point to this story then the character giving in to the dark side). She also somehow easily got really cool make-up and a whole outfit made out of black leather – mais oui. And the raven, don’t forget the raven.
She still retained her sense of humour, playing tricks on the bumbling fairies looking after Aurora, instead of frying them all.
And finally, what I like most – she stands up and soars (impressively shattering some glass in the process).
“I’d forgotten what this town was like,” says Eilis, played by Saoirse Ronan. She doesn’t say it loudly, but she says it with a perceptable force. One sentence immediately makes it clear that in a second she has made up her mind and the viewer knows that a point of no return has been reached.
Brooklyn is a beautiful movie in every aspect, one of the key ones being the natural, flowing simplicity. Things simply happen, events do not feel orchestrated as we follow the story of one human life, and the others connected to it.
The many scenes in slow motion occuring in the film happen naturally as well, trickling from the normal speed so subtly that you barely notice the change in pace. They depict that moment when you briefly separate yourself from what has just happened, and seem to be outside of the speed of things around you just for a few seconds. The scenes are wonderfully timed, floating easily along to the soundtrack by Michael Brook. It’s that easiness, that intuitive identifying with the story in each scene that underlines just how much hard work of a high quality went in to the film.
Another subject examined is both the finality and the changing nature of a decision. If you sailed to the United States all the way from Ireland, it wasn’t necessarily likely that your family would be able to come to visit, and vice versa. Uncertainty was part and parcel of the package, letters and the very rare phone call were the main means of communication, and the joy of opening an envelope from home would be remembered for weeks before the next one arrived. On the other hand, when Eilis has to go back home, despite her repeating that she will be sailing again, her family and friends simply assume she will stay. The distance between the two countries actually feels as enormous as it is. If you leave, you leave forever. If you don’t, then you don’t. That seems to be the view of most, except for Eilis, who broke out of the circle. But the distance remains, stretching out in front of her again and again.
We can all fall in to a pocket and forget ourselves, despite the existence of a newly built life. Grief, loss, youth, physical distance (once again), love, death all converge on Eilis and subsequent events remind us how easy it is to slide in to an oblivion of sorts. The opposite of homesickness. The question is, as always, what will happen next? What will the heroine decide, and will she?
Reading all the positive praise Saoirse Ronan is receiving for her acting makes me happy, because I enjoyed watching her immensely. She is the perfect fit for making emotions of magnitude clear and felt in the audience, even while appearing seemingly understated, reserved, even.
There is a dance scene at the beginning. It all surrounds Eilis, and the camera just lets her look on after her friend gets asked to dance, staying on her face. She is not part of her surroundings anymore and she knows it. This is conveyed much more effectively through remaining with her, as opposed to circling to the dancers twirling around the room.
Another touching and significant part of the movie is Eilis’s bond with her sister, who unknowingly gives her a gift for life, writing in one of her letters, “I am still by your side, even if I’m not.”
From the visual point of view (and I haven’t read the book) it might be a simple story, but the stories of a continuing life and mastering it are ultimately the most compelling.
Buying tickets is fun. Choosing seats provides you with necessary decision- making exercises (love seat – might want to move one over; four seats in front of chosen spot occupied and it’s a chick flick – might get loud with the giggles; splurge on the back row or not; almost everything is full, but I really wantto see this movie NOW etc.) Buying tickets online is even more fun, because the usually present ticking clock indicating for how much longer this operation will be reserved for you provides that extra kick.
It’s the only place where I can really cry, and since I’m not a loud cryer the cinema suits me just fine. Shedding a few tears during a well written and well acted sad scene is satisfying and cheap therapy (this also works at home – try the scene in Homeward Bound when Shadow slips in to a pit and is talking to Chance after he realizes he can’t get up).
For an hour or two the world outside is forgotten. The lights go out (yay!), the screen lights up and there is only the story, sights and sounds in front of me.
Seeing a good movie with your favourite actor(s) is a special kind of joyful experience. Seeing a bad movie with your favourite actor(s) reduces the amount of spitting afterwards regarding the badness of the movie due to the presence of the favourite actor(s). Seeing a movie where everything is bad reminds you that the things you love doing include a risk and some money.
Sometimes the audience claps and that is extra cool, because while we all know the people on the screen can’t hear us (though just maybe), letting emotions like happiness and enthusiasm in to the universe is a heart-warming shared experience.
‘Tis the summer for blockbusters…well, any time of the year is good for blockbusters, but summer in particular. Jurassic Worldhas whet my appetite, so when I heard one of our local movie theaters was starting a Summer of Spielberg event, my delight was apparent. So this very hot Sunday afternoon found me watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, after what must be a 15-year break. What leapt to the eye today with the speed of Indy’s whip-cracking:
It’s still one of the best action-adventure movies ever made and it wouldn’t be what it is without Harrison Ford (though one does wonder if Chris Pratt could fill his shoes).
The (still impressive) special effects provoke a reminiscent and affectionate smile, as well as make you laugh. Really, could you keep a straight face (pun?) when seeing this:
The main heroine is a tough, resourceful woman with heart, who is still relatable for today’s viewers. She owned and managed her own bar in rough surroundings, can hold her drink, punch, kick, scream if need be, reacts honestly to a floor teeming with snakes and she lets Indiana know he mistreated her. She’s also willing to put on an ugly dress to try to escape her prison and she ditches those temporary white peep-toes (SO much more sensible to run barefoot in a desert near Kairo, though it’s not fair Indy keeps his shoes, but let’s not abandon the subject to join that particular debate).
Everyone has issues. And they are quotable.
And in-between there’s some memorable iconic humour.
The DVD arrived and the movie was refreshed in my memory, making me rush to the keyboard afterwards to record the following ten standout things about it (in painfully chronological order).
1. The score composed by Michael Giacchino has music to match the scope of the film with it’s sweeping scenes and expansive space views (not to mention the special effects).
2. Jupiter’s (Mila Kunis) Russian mother speaks either broken Russian or words that barely resemble the language, proving once again that Hollywood assumes no one is going to understand it anyway and gibberish can be planted in to a script. “Stalin’s eggs!” Please. That doesn’t even exist in Russian. Some proper research would be nice, as well as respect not only for the representation of different cultures, but for the fact that, considering modern mobility and global travel, there will most likely be someone in the audience who understands this particular language. Mila Kunis speaks grammatically correct, though with an accent, soothing the occasional wounded ear. At least you get the sense she is trying.
3. Eddie Redmayne in the movie is one the most convincing scary things I’ve ever seen. In fact, the whole pack of Abrasax siblings is scary, but he beats them at it.
4. Cain Wise (Channing Tatum) immediately gives you the feeling everything will be alright, and his air-surfing boots are fantastic. As is his coordination regarding skating up a storm and catching Jupiter when she falls.
5. The first time Jupiter flies out with Cain in a pretty void of sparkling air.
6. Seeing Jupiter’s family seated around a dinner table echoes my above sentiments about spoken Russian in Hollywood films. I get it, this movie also has room for humour, but this is stretching the stereotype way too far. Fat men in tracksuits open to the navel and her mother cursing at relatives at the table? Numerous relatives crowding in to one small house? Someone being adressed as Nino? That’s a Georgian name.
7. We know now that Ned Stark got reincarnated as Stinger Apini (Sean Bean). The moment you hear that accent…”Winter is coming.”
8. In case you didn’t know, “Bees are genetically designed to recognize royalty”, which somehow has a poetic ring to it, as Jupiter tries to come to grips with the unexpected events in her life.
9. “We need a plan. We need firepower”, says Cain. And all this is executed while shirtless.
10. Comforting wisdom which there is no harm in repeating: “It’s not what you do, it’s who you are.”
Writsomnia 
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