Tuesday, January 30, 2007

History Repeating

It’s one thing to re-create histories of decades past, with little to rely on beyond old photographs, words in books and flaky newsreels. There, artistic license prevails; filmmakers have the freedom to use whatever methods they have at their disposal to invoke a sense of verisimilitude.

It’s quite another to re-create a history that is merely ten years old, especially if its pivotal moment is a televised speech for which there is little room for artistic manoeuvring. And so, in featuring Queen Elizabeth II’s tribute to the late Princess Diana in his latest effort The Queen, Stephen Frears did the only thing he could do: re-create the five-minute broadcast shot-by-shot, word-for-word, down to the background and clothing—except with Helen Mirren instead of the monarch.

It was a bold move which, for me, sealed The Queen as a near-perfect movie, over and above its outstanding cast (and casting), skilful storytelling, pacing, and sensitive treatment of subject matter. As a film which purported to tell the story that “wasn’t told” in the week of Princess Diana’s death in 1997—specifically, the British Royal Family’s reaction to it—it delivered both the public and private narratives beautifully. Never before have I seen such a compelling and flawless interpolation of archived footage, re-enactments of actual events and depictions of fictional ones.

There’s normally a high sense of artifice when movie characters watch archived footage, but re-enacting two of them (a tribute by Tony Blair as well) collapses this film’s reality with ours. Throw in a priceless performance by Helen Mirren (who was so convincing that halfway through the movie, I struggled to recall what the real Queen looks like), and you have one brilliant piece of work.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Test Post 3 - Ecstacy Set to Be Worldwide Scourge

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Monday, January 01, 2007

Test Post 2: Home and Dry

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