Things I Normally Never See

May 20th, 2007Blog0 comments

I try to see movies/shows and read books that I would normally never look at. These would be works that do not feature Vulcans or giant robots. I find it useful to force my mind open and try new things in an attempt to pick up random DNA strands and generate new ideas and forms of life.

So I have capsule reviews here of two movies that I saw recently. These movies are of a type which are normally shielded from me by my inordinately high level of testosterone: The Queen and The Devil Wears Prada.

Both of these films have more than a few things in common, and both are a cut above because of the performances of the titular characters. Helen Mirren in The Queen and Meryl Streep as the Devil, the Hollywood / paperback version of Vogue’s Anna Wintour.

The Queen: Remarkable because of Mirren’s performance and the conflict between royal protocol and the modern media. This is a dramatization of the week after Princess Diana’s death and the royal family dealing with a grieving public. In a lot of ways it reminds me of Richard Nixon’s presidential run against JFK — it was the first time debates were televised, and Nixon didn’t know how to work the cameras. Kennedy appeared vibrant, energetic, wore makeup. He knew how to craft a message appropriate to the medium. Mirren’s Queen is much like our Nixon, holding on to the castle and wondering why everyone else can’t understand her decorum. What is also chilling is what she tells to Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) about how the public will fawn over you and then turn on you. She also shares a Soopranos-like moment with a stag she sights in the highlands — one that must be shot down.

The Devil Wears Prada: Much more broad than The Queen. Anne Hathaway has huge facial features. What I loved most about this movie was Meryl Streep — she can emote huge with just a flicker of her facial features, and does a great job of silently crushing people. There were a lot of similarities between this and Swimming with Sharks, but this one ends on a high note. In addition, it reminds me that part of the joy of watching a movie is looking at beautiful things. Beautiful settings, people, gorgeous colors and setpieces. My world is a drab place and every now and then I need to borrow the eyes of filmmakers in order to light it up. And a lot of it takes place in New York — the fast moving I’m-taking-a-meeting New York — and I love that New York.