When do you get the chance to watch movies these days? I can't recall the last time I went to the cinema- it was literally years ago. The best chance for seeing anything like a new release is on an aeroplane, when you can switch off for a few hours and take advantage of some momentary solitude.
On my recent flight from Johannesburg to Sydney I watched two quite different films.
Disgrace
The brilliant novel by JM Coetzee has unfortunately failed to translate to the big screen. Despite John Malcovich's best efforts, his characterisation of a philandering, conflicted University lecturer gets lost somewhere in the screenplay rewrite. There is no real explanation of how or why he arrives at the decision to sleep with prostitutes and students, and the shallowness of his character doesn't allow us to empathise or judge him for his actions.
Add to this the fact that the Australian based production used mainly Australian actors whose fey South African accents dropped in and out of dialogue at regular intervals and you have a movie which was hard going. I couldn't see it through to the end. Poor script, stolid acting and a good idea gone wrong.
Tyson
On the other hand, this was one of the more rivetting documentaries I've seen in some time. A mesmerising portrait of one of the most controversial athletes of the last century, Tyson is a warts and all auto-biographical doco of the former heavy weight boxing champion, Mike Tyson.
There has always been a sense of tragedy about Tyson, a poor kid/wrong side of the tracks/made good/gone bad /story for the ages. The tragedy is tangible, but unexpectedly Tyson's brutal honesty and unguarded dialogue throughout the film offers an insight into a more complex, albeit conflicted, thinker.
Where we expect brutality, we often get philosophy. There's brutality in spades, no question, and Tyson's brand of philosophy isn't going to be mistaken for Descartes, but through it we end up finding a man who is acutely aware of his own failings.
In the main, he isn't apologetic for them. The fact that Tyson once experienced the power that came with being the world's most feared and famous athlete means that some of the "ultimate alpha male" residue still exists.
He doesn't resile from his past, nor sugar coat his misdemeanors (other than denying that he was guilty of the rape charge that put him in prison for three years).
Guilty or not, the complex juxtaposition of candidness, repressed anger and emotional pain laid bare makes this film enthralling viewing. "Tyson" is highly recommended.
On my recent flight from Johannesburg to Sydney I watched two quite different films.
Disgrace
The brilliant novel by JM Coetzee has unfortunately failed to translate to the big screen. Despite John Malcovich's best efforts, his characterisation of a philandering, conflicted University lecturer gets lost somewhere in the screenplay rewrite. There is no real explanation of how or why he arrives at the decision to sleep with prostitutes and students, and the shallowness of his character doesn't allow us to empathise or judge him for his actions.
Add to this the fact that the Australian based production used mainly Australian actors whose fey South African accents dropped in and out of dialogue at regular intervals and you have a movie which was hard going. I couldn't see it through to the end. Poor script, stolid acting and a good idea gone wrong.
Tyson
On the other hand, this was one of the more rivetting documentaries I've seen in some time. A mesmerising portrait of one of the most controversial athletes of the last century, Tyson is a warts and all auto-biographical doco of the former heavy weight boxing champion, Mike Tyson.
There has always been a sense of tragedy about Tyson, a poor kid/wrong side of the tracks/made good/gone bad /story for the ages. The tragedy is tangible, but unexpectedly Tyson's brutal honesty and unguarded dialogue throughout the film offers an insight into a more complex, albeit conflicted, thinker.
Where we expect brutality, we often get philosophy. There's brutality in spades, no question, and Tyson's brand of philosophy isn't going to be mistaken for Descartes, but through it we end up finding a man who is acutely aware of his own failings.
In the main, he isn't apologetic for them. The fact that Tyson once experienced the power that came with being the world's most feared and famous athlete means that some of the "ultimate alpha male" residue still exists.
He doesn't resile from his past, nor sugar coat his misdemeanors (other than denying that he was guilty of the rape charge that put him in prison for three years).
Guilty or not, the complex juxtaposition of candidness, repressed anger and emotional pain laid bare makes this film enthralling viewing. "Tyson" is highly recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment