Posted by Marcia on April 04, 1998 at 23:42:57:
In Reply to: Re: The Age of Innocence - Bridges of Madison County posted by Elaine on April 04, 1998 at 10:59:58:
Elaine wrote:
: Well, I saw AOI last night for the first time. I have to say, I didn't like it at all. It was flat, the acting appeared labored (even DDL's!!!!), I thought it poorly directed, Pfeiffer was not at all believable. I don't know, I know a lot of you like this film, so I guess I will find little company here. I liked Edith Wharton's story. It was the film itself that was poorly done, IMHO. Sorry I can't find much to say that's positive. I was sort of surprised with DDL. He just didn't seem to give the performance he usually does.
Hi, E.Lane!
Somehow I didn't expect you to like it a lot, though I didn't think you'd hate it...I guess I don't picture a Huron Warrior-maiden such as yourself being "into" the Victorian era so much. But then you DO like history, so that might not be true, either. However, I have to say the very things you dislike about Age are the things I love the most. Especially DDL's performance. I think it is his second best performance to date, actually. I would rank his acting as 1)My Left Foot 2)Age of Innocence and 3)LOM, surprisingly enough. Even though LOM is by far my favorite of his films, and Hawkeye my favorite of his roles, I still think his actual performance is stronger in the other two. It's much harder to give a quiet, understated expression of suffering than it is to portray someone so completely "overt" (for want of a better term) as the stalwart Hawkeye. And Age is far and away my favorite Scorcese film, being as how I have hated almost everything else he has directed (don't like those bloody gangster things). I also give the film absolutely top rating for visuals...it is just such a lushly photographed and detailed portrayal of the era.
Now this is not to say I'm upset that you don't agree...I repeat (I've been misunderstood on this point before in other forums, so I'm trying to be really clear here) we all have our own likes and dislikes, and that's what makes the world go round. If we all liked the same movies, we'd have to wait in line FAR too long! ;o)
Another case in point is that Carol, I think, said she hated Age and liked Lightness...a film I could not possibly EVER sit through again, even though it starred DDL and my favorite actress, Juliette Binoche. I call it The Unbearable Longness of Movie, and felt kind of like Elaine on Seinfeld when she was watching The English Patient, and jumped up screaming, "Just DIE, already!" (I ADORE The English Patient, but I thought that Seinfeld episode was hilarious!)
Don't you think it interesting what works or doesn't work for each of us? I love that we all have strong likes & dislikes of our own, and hope we never reach a point in this world where we are all parroting someone else's opinions on any form of art. And I love reading what each of you enjoys (or doesn't) in the films we've chatted about. I just plain LOVE movies, and discussing some of them on this board! Once more, a big thank-you to Mohican Press et al for giving us the opportunity to do so.
*me, heading off to beddie-bye here, singing "you say potato, and I say po-tah-to, you say tomato, and I say to-mah-to, potato, po-tah-to, tomato, to-mah-to, let's just watch Mohicans again"*
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMand like that.