I just finished watching this, and while I thought it was well done, I'm pretty lukewarm on the whole thing. I don't love it; I don't hate it. Question for those of you who loved it: Why? What should I look for if I watch it again?
shareThe movie's taken from a book written by Annie Proulx, who also authored Brokeback Mt. I've never read the book, but I know there's lots below the surface that I've read about here on this board. It's hard to watch because seeing Kevin Spacey so wimped out is too depressing. He needed to man up, it took too much effort for him to do so, and it was frustrating to witness.
Too gloomy for me. I pretty much feel the same way that you do, kinda neutral, & the same way about BbMt. It's heavy & sluggish like his boat. I'm no big fan of Proulx's work either.
This board is most likely the best place to read opinions on it...the explainations you'll find here are almost more interesting than the film ! : >) : >
You're so right about Spacey's character; that's probably the main reason why I couldn't identify with the film. He seemed to be a self-made victim. His string of bad luck was due to his own weakness, and that made the film tiresome. Maybe that was the point of the movie/book, but even so, the character needed to have a turning point otherwise the whole story is about a loser being a loser. The ending seemed to imply that adversity can be overcome, but I still don't see what Spacey's character did to deserve a victory. Maybe I missed it.
shareI thot Cate Blanchett was superb. Her character was so sleazy, it must've been great fun to play. I almost wish there was more of her & less of Spacey.
At the beginning where she's on top of him, she says something like "Biggest one so far." So Quoyle was very well endowed? I carried that thot throughout the whole film..: >) hahaha. evidently, it was the reason she stayed with him. i could be wrong...
But he was so pathetic allowing her to treat him so badly. The roles were reversed, in that it's usually the married woman who's dependent on a man who dumps on his wife like that.
You'd think that his "endowment" might've given him a little confidence, but he was clearly suffering from depression, even before he met her. And she definately didn't help. She was killed off too soon imo. Love Blanchett but not so much Julianne Moore. so maybe if someone else played her(JM) part, i might've liked her(character) more.
Yes, it'd be fun to rewrite this film/book & put my own "improvements" into it. : >) : >
I've been a Blanchett believer ever since I saw her in Coffee & Cigarettes. Definitely the most versatile actress I've seen in ages. Her slutty role in Shipping News is another extreme, and I thought it was brilliant. Too bad it was such a minor role.
When she said "biggest one so far" I always figured she was referring to her orgasm. She seemed to be so self-absorbed, I doubt she would comment on anything but herself ...but you never know, yeah, maybe it implied that Spacey's character was packin a special surprise.
I figured she stayed with him just because she could trample all over him, and he'd still support her emotionally & (more importantly) financially. Spacey did a good job of playing the schlep--so good that I started getting really annoyed. What didn't add up was the way the movie kept implying that he had some latent 'pirate blood' in him, when he gets piss drunk he becomes aggressive & violent, but in everyday life he's just a cowardly wuss. I was expecting some sort of reconciliation between the two personalities, but it never seemed to happen.
Maybe, like many book-to-film adaptations, the movie tried to do too many things, and it ended up skipping over the important stuff. I should probably try reading the book.
I thought it was an exceptional film. I cxonnected with it ob a number of levels/plains. For one, the heartwarming story of a broken man healing was very uplifting and enjoyable.
On another front, Newfoundland was presented as a living, breathing charcter, including some awesome arial shots coupled with a tremendous soundtrack.
Then you throw in the supernatural and it really (to me, at least) added a nice mix. I found it very satisfying. Later, after seeing the movie, I read the novel and felt that the changes in the screenplay were not only justified, but made it a much batter on-screen presentaion than a more literal adaptation would have been. (We must not forget that the novel and the motion picture are two totally different animals.)
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the snow.
Season's Greetings!
So many beautiful shots of the landscape. With regard to the movie, I just watched it yesterday and was so excited to finally see it...but then sadly realized half way through that I had seen it years ago, so there was something that was very un-memorable about the film. There seemed to be too many subplots crammed into it: Quoyle's bad relationship w/Petal and w/his father; his boss' bad relationship w/his son, the Cousin Nolan thing, Wavey's bad relationship w/her husband, the handicapped child, Aunt Agnes' bad relationship w/her brother, then subsequent lesbian relationship, the resentment towards Quoyle by newspaper staff. It could have been edited down a bit. But I agree with the OP -- didn't love it, but didn't hate it. I thought the cinematography was spectacular and that whole atmosphere is what really what pulled me in.
"...and I would've gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids."
"You're so right about Spacey's character; that's probably the main reason why I couldn't identify with the film. He seemed to be a self-made victim. His string of bad luck was due to his own weakness, and that made the film tiresome. Maybe that was the point of the movie/book, but even so, the character needed to have a turning point otherwise the whole story is about a loser being a loser. The ending seemed to imply that adversity can be overcome, but I still don't see what Spacey's character did to deserve a victory. Maybe I missed it."
He was told to write a story about motorcycles, but defied his intimidating boss and wrote what he thought was a better story (Hitler's Yacht). It earned him respect from his boss and was the turning point for his character (I...B...M...).