Oh dear...


Saw it this evening...

It played to a full house closing the London Lesbian and Gay Film festival - there was certainly no lack of audience goodwill ... until we saw the film ... some of the "epigrams" overheard at the end would have made Wilde blush.

Had a glance around this board, and I have to say people's main misgiving that Dorian is miscast, is actually not the problem - the film's focus is youth so he fits the part quite well.

The problem is there's something so intrinsically wrong with the whole film that every little part of it is spoiled: the acting is unwatchable; the script is leaden and dull. The adaptation neither gets to the heart of the novel nor uses it successfully as a device to illustrate another theme. The 'artistic' elements (basically a few words from Wilde's text in a large font every now and again, plus a lights-going-on-and-off motif) are just distracting. The soundtrack is embarrassing (get this: it ends with Je Ne Regrette Rien - not ironically!!!) Even the makeup is laughable! I suppose I can begrudgingly let the photographer off the hook ... his mistake was getting involved with this turkey!

I think the ultimate responsibility for these problems lies in the director's own vanity. There's a film in his attic that's interesting daring and original. But the film we saw has no soul.

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Do you know if David Gallgher was present?

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David was there. You can see a 2 pics here:

http://www.llgff.org.uk/news_details.php?NewsID=57

He's also appears in the podcast:

http://www.llgff.org.uk/podcasts.php

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Last night I saw The Picture of Dorian Gray with five friends at the Odeon Leicester Square. The audience was mainly very quiet and laughed occasionally at two or three very funny lines. I saw four people leave.

The film was very stylish. There were endless references to contemporary art: I really enjoyed the epigrams (Richard Long), the neon sculptures (Tracy Emin and Dan Flavin) and I think a reference to Sylvie Fleury. It really was a visual treat.

As I sat there the film made me feel very uncomfortable. Personally I don't think that it was an entirely appropriate film for the last night of the London Lesbian and Gay film festival. The attendant party crowd was eager to get to the last night do at the BFI and drink free champagne and very understandably so after a long festival.

Dorian as played by David Gallagher was excellent; Christian Camargo who plays Wooten was very well acted. Basil Hallward tended to whine. As uncomfortable as this film made me feel I was compelled to sit and watch it to the very end. There were moments of real cinematic genius-largely during the second half. I kept thinking that the look of the film was beautiful-the colors extraordinary. The split screen devices used occasionally worked very well and seamlessly referencing Gilbert and George.

Consequently I have awarded the film ten out of ten for style, music choices, and production values and for some of the performances. Taking a classic tale and reworking it was a dangerous idea but for sheer audacity I think that Duncan Roy has made a stab in the right direction. On the way over to the BFI my friends passionately discussed the film-we were pretty evenly divided between those of us who really loved it and those of us who either didn't get it or did not bother to try. We all agreed that we loved the color of the film and especially the use of music.

If anything the vapid, vacuous nature of the characters bound up in this slight story added rather than detracted from the film. Wilde caused a bit of the same negative reaction when he published his book. Sadly I know rather too many people like the ones I saw up on the screen on Wednesday night.

A day has since past and I am still thinking about Dorian Gray. The film leaves something indelible-both good and bad in the memory-it is never, ever dull.

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I'm starting to think you people didn't really see the movie. You haven't actually given us any real information on the movie. No scene discriptions or anything.

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What do you want to know? I just saw the film at NewFest, where the director was lamenting the fact that the majority of posts here were about whether the lead actor appeared in full frontal shots. I think he attributed it to general American prurience, rather than the fact that he cast an actor who was a teen hearthrob on TV.

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Just general plot points. How does the movie star? Who are the characters? What's there motivation? Especially the main charater of Dorian. Why do you think Duncan Roy wanted to do this adaption?

That last question is more personal and has less to do with the movie.

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Duncan Roy wanted to do this because of the gay theme he is a homosexual and is very obsessed with gay culture and i have nothing against gay people but he is not only an awful director but also one of the most appauling excuses for a human being i have ever had the displeasure to meet he is now living in LA and stealing flowersa from his neighbours gardens the sad *beep*

HEY...where'd you get those clothes? at the, toilet, store.

http://ScorseseNerd.bebo.com

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