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The Girl... but which girl?

Posted by Victor Khomenko (M) on June 17, 2005 at 06:52:52

Two films last night.

The first one - Girl with a Pearl Earring. A visual treat for anyone who loves Dutch paintings (that's me, alright...), but unfortunately not much more. One of those experiences that make you feel good while they are happening, but leave your mind completely clean and untouched, letting it switch quickly to something else.

There is no question about the degree of care the makers put into recreating the environment, the decors and the costumes of the period, and all that is fine and I am grateful to them for that effort... but all that also is completely superficial, as there is nothing beneath.

In that sense one is immediately reminded of another visual masterpiece - Barry Lyndon, except there, in additional to the impeccably done period images, there is great deal else.

As it is, the Girl squarely belongs in the "pleasant fluff" category. It's greatest benefit is in making you revisit the paintings of the period, look through some art books, close your eyes and remember things associated with them in your life... and that is plenty... rooms upon rooms of Dutch masterpieces in Hermitage, your youth and your discoveries. Is all that related to the original film objective?

The final images of the original work struck me as gaudy and unpleasant. That could not be real Vermeer, I mumbled, rushing to the library for a good reproduction of it. Sure enough, the film transfer doesn't do the picture much justice - the real one is several orders of magnitude more subtle, delicate and... just beautiful. What happened there I shall probably never know, but to my eye that last note sounded dissonant, and I was watching it on a good system. If that was the transfer artifact, then here I will give a nod to clark with his nagging claims that things should be experienced in movie theaters... except, as we know, that is not a guarantee of quality either, with projector bulbs aging, color calibration not done on regular basis, and projectionists generally not giving much shit about anything... given the audience and its expectations today.

The other film of the night was the 2002 "Dummy" on cable. I am not a fan of Adrien Brody, and I still remain in that camp, although he tried his near best in that silly commedy. And silly it is, but with a few good moments and some hearthy laughs, so I am not ashamed to admit that overall I felt like I spent good two hours.

The film is simple and unpretentious fun, with good script and several good performances. Milla Jovovich pleasant to watch, and Illeana Douglas not bad at all, creating an almost bizarre atmosphere where many good one-liners flourish.

Certainly not something you should rush out to rent, but if you stumble over it - you will not regret.

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