Movies!

[ellen_datlow]

Watched The Sheltering Sky, based on the Paul Bowles novel, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and starring Debra Winger, John Malkovich, and Campbell Scott. Bowles has a small role in it-- Disaffected American couple travel to North Africa with an acquaintance, get into bad situations, sometimes their own fault (Port doesn't want to stop traveling and Kit has no real will of her own). They're dissatisfied and unhappy but don't really know why.

Some spoilers to don't read on if you want to avoid them








I remembered the movie getting bad reviews when it came out and was unsure I wanted to see it, thinking it would mess up the novel plus be too depressing.The novel always felt on the verge of horror and ultimately falls into the precipice of it (as I recall).

The movie is less tense throughout. And also very much soft pedals the fate of Kit, who in the novel goes mad with grief and abandonment at Port's death and finds oblivion (again, this is all from memory) in being kept a sexual slave. I'd have to reread the last third of the novel to refresh my memory (or someone can refresh it for me :-) )

The cinematography, by Vittore Storaro, is magnificent and brilliantly captures the vastness and alienness of the Sahara (where the couple ends up). Not to mention the alienation of Kit and Port. Interesting and worth watching, but read the book, too.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona by Woody Allen was the perfect antidote to the despair of The Sheltering Sky--two friends go to Barcelona for a couple of months in the summer and meet a charming roguish, seductive artist, who has a crazy and sometimes dangerous ex-wife. The two young American women are played by Scarlett Johanssen and Rebecca Hall. Artist by Javier Bardem. Ex-wife Penelope Cruz (and she deserves her Oscar in Best Supporting role). And Patricia Clarkson, as always, is excellent in a supporting role as the Aunt who invites Vicky (Hall) and her friend Cristina (Johanssen) to stay for the summer. Pablo Schreiber (just seen in Desire Under the Elms has a small role as another American in Barcelona.

It's all about seduction, love, going after what you want, missed chances...oh you know... all that romantic stuff. Relatively lightweight (with a few serious moments).I enjoyed it a lot.

Comments

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a good antidote indeed. Your memory of The Sheltering Sky sounds right to me. The novel is horrifying on many levels, but I've never forgotten the concluding pages where she's escaped, can do whatever she wants, and then (presumably) returns to captivity. I haven't read much Bowles criticism or interviews, but I am curious about whether the book might have been influenced by The Sun Also Rises. Perhaps it's just that I read the two together in a relatively short span of time, but they seem to have roughly similar plots and characters, but Bowles doesn't seem to have much in the way of mercy for the characters.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the confirmation. Yes--Bowles was always very cruel to his characters --looking back from the stories I remember, they were usually indifferent to the customs of those in North Africa and punished for indulging themselves as privileged Americans. (a very rough interpretation by me).

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

I was less impressed (http://stevegreen.livejournal.com/249819.html) with Vicky Christina Barcelona, I must say.

[mlamprey.livejournal.com]

I think Sheltering Sky is one of those books Robert McKee holds up in STORY as an example of how lazy voice-over narrative heralds the coming of a cinematic apocalypse. (I will note that somehow cinema has managed to survive even the advent of Robert McKee.) Still, I'm wary of the movie. The book is strong stuff. I'd hate to dilute it.

[chronicpaint.livejournal.com]

I finally saw the Sheltering Sky years after falling in love with the soundtrack. I liked the film, but I'm not sure if it's one that will stay with me.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I didn't see it on a big screen. The cinematography lovingly captures the desert.

Marc,
The voice over narration wasn't necessary for comprehension, but it does provide a bit of the internalization to the movie which is present throughout the novel. I don't think it quite works but there's no other way to depict that.

[chronicpaint.livejournal.com]

I bought the soundtrack mostly because it's Ryuichi Sakamoto, and I adore his work

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming he did not write the Arabic theme music throughout? Or if so, based it on the originals?

[chronicpaint.livejournal.com]

I'd have to go back and check. The symphonic stuff his his. I think he may have just adapted or re-orchestrated the Arabic music. He's pretty versatile.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I really loved the middle eastern music.

I think I bought the soundtrack to Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence many years ago.