Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Bambi B (A) on October 15, 2006 at 10:06:06

In Reply to: Re: Very well. posted by patrickU on October 15, 2006 at 03:07:31:

Patrick,

You are absolutely right that Frears is an episodic director. "Prick" is really a "flashback" movie and I think part of it's power is that we know Orton's story ended tragically and at a a young age- right away.

"Once upon a time, there was a young man of explosive talent and instant success, but we're talking about him in the past tense- so he must be dead." This sets up what I think is a very good juxtaposition. We see Orton and Halliwell having fun defacing books- pranks for which they went to prison for 6 months- where Orton gets in shape and reads- portrayed as having a better life than at home- where the self-consscious and ackward Halliwell is destroyed. Orton is an energetic lover of life - Halliwell is amused by life, but not sure he want to make much effort at it. The scene where Orton sets up an anaonymous gay rendezvous in a public bathroom - or "Cottage" in that parlance- for the intensely shy Halliwell could have been sordid and actually kind of humiliating, but the affectionate humour is infectious and we like Orton.

But, as Orton has success, Halliwell feels abandoned and becomes impatient and angry- though Orton tries to bring him along for the ride, Halliwell has some kind of fractured ego and he takes his revenge- for the disappointing life he made for himself- out on Orton.

It's the juxtaposition of the happy, energetic and forward looking, the sureealism of the pranks, to the darkness of Halliwell and the eventual tragedy that I think is conceptually brilliant and then the careful comedic to deadly progress of the relationship is beutifully directed and acted.

While I think of Oldman's portrayal of Orton, I'm reminded of his use of a similar personality type in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" where we are made unsure which character he is. Tim Roth is perfect as his more rational counterpart. "R&G are D" is a fantastic Tom Stoppard movie of his play about the ill fated R&G in "Hamlet". In Hamlet we first hear of R&G as Hamlet's friends who were summoned to try and find the reasons Hamlet is acting oddly. The movie shows R&G hovering around the periphary of the action of "Hamlet" and every so often,, R&G enter the play and do their two or three scenes in the Shakespeare, then flit away. It's a fantastic "behind the scenes" comedic look at "Hamlet" and I think makes the Shakespeare even more intriguing. Another example of this idea was the pulling of Falstaff out of "Henry IV" and "Meery Wives of Windsor" and doing an opera!

The atmosphere of "R&G are D." is nicely surreal and wondrously chaotic. I wished the Actor was done by not Richard Dreyfuss- "Dick Dryface" I call him, but Oldman and Roth are just fantastically funny- like Laurel and Hardy, R&G are really one person split into halves that must always battle. It very well fits the dictum: "Comedy is tragedy we see happen to someone else". And- we learn that "Probability Theory" is a dangerous placebo!

Hello, I must be going!

Bambi B