An Opportunity Taken

Since I last talked with you, I've seen A Very Long Engagement, Barry Lyndon, and Apocalypto; oh, and the National Football League contest between the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs, at Arrowhead Stadium. I also saw two wrestling duals, Nebraska versus South Dakota State and Northern Colorado respectively.

A Very Long Engagement is a nice Jeunet vehicle for Audrey Tautou, Amelie herself. It also includes the smoker from Amelie and a couple characters from Delicatessen. If you need to see everything Tautou has been in, then you should see it. If you like her and your time is more precious, watch Dirty Pretty Things instead.

Barry Lyndon is also a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, see Vanity Fair (not the magazine). Though I've not seen or read Vanity Fair, I gather that it is about a woman from a lower class who rises to a higher class in British society. Barry Lyndon is about an Irishman who does the same thing. I don't know how Vanity Fair ends, but Lyndon ends in a diluted tragedy, which isn't a surprise because the director, and maybe the author too, tells you so at the beginning of Part II, which is after the Intermission (yes it is one of those type of three hour movies, but not nearly so musical). The cinematography won many awards and nominations, which is tricky because it is part war and lots of scenery, so how hard is that. I guess it could be difficult to light and use the proper lenses, but the camera work never stood out to me. There is violence in this film but it is mainly in duels and has an element of amusement. This is notable because this was Kubrick's palate cleanser between Clockwork Orange and The Shining. Ryan O'Neal has the doughiest eyes he's ever had in the title role. Don't watch this movie.

Another director who really likes violence did Apocalypto. There is plenty of violence and many similar scenes between this and Braveheart. That is fine. SNL did a fun mock trailer for this in which the diseased prepubescent sibyl says "I smell bagels." Very funny.