| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Montgomery |
Posted - 07/31/2009 : 18:35:40
Anyone see all of Two Lovers? I couldn't finish it, but I kinda was interested in how it ended. Seemed like it was going to be a droning-depressing ending, so I bailed.
What happened?
EM :)
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| 14 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 08/02/2009 : 10:56:19
Spot on!
(Now I hope I can find it again on TV so I can watch it all.)
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| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 08/02/2009 : 07:56:21
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
Did anyone see Keane?
One of the BEST indie films of the decade! Why didn't Damien Lewis get an Oscar nom? Subtlest ambiguity of character I've seen for a looooooooooooong time.
I didn't get to see all of it - it was on TV and we missed most of it, and then they didn't replay it so we couldn't record it. But we were sooooooooooo impressed with how he did that character. Especially all the body language, change in facial expressions, and vocal differences from when he was having an episode vs when he was okay was like we were seeing two completely different actors on the screen. Now THAT's what I call amazing acting!
But I already knew this about Damian Lewis. I've loved him in everything I've seen him in so far - both TV and movies.
(And he's not hard on the eyes, either! yummmmmm)
This is my review of it at the time [when I was posting all my reviews in the run-up to the 2006/7 BAFTAs]:
Keane
I'm not sure why this unpretentious, disturbing indie film [produced by Steven Soderbergh in 2004] should have had to wait nearly two years for a UK release. The fact that it did finally show itself probably has something to do with star Damien Lewis's recent attention as one of the most versatile actors around. Here he plays an American, as convincingly as he did in Spielberg's Band of Brothers.
William Keane, on disability pay for a mental illness that becomes obvious after spying on him for even a short time, may or may not have lost a young daughter, and may or may not be trying to expiate whatever residual guilt he feels by periodically, obsessively, and vainly trying to confront her abductor. When even he can see the futility of that road he blots out the present pain with loud music, alcohol, drugs, sex and sleep.
Not until he meets Lynn, a young woman with a daughter of the same age, both transient residents in the flea-pit hotel where Keane has a room, is he able to gather some vestiges of his sanity to form a non-threatenting, non-sexual, but genuine friendship with them. But when Lynn asks him to look after little Kira while she clarifies matters with her husband [who's supposedly settling into a new job before he sends for his wife and child], William is thrown back into the demonic grasp of his emotional dilemma. As the film runs its course the tension, never melodramatic, grabs you until the conclusion.
Director Lodge Kerrigan employs a powerfully relentless filmmaking technique more often associated with documentary, following William as though he were being observed under a microscope ... which brilliantly evokes what the character himself feels about his presence in a world that keeps eluding him. At first you feel slightly alientated by this pursuit, but gradually and despite some of the more dangerous aspects of his behaviour, you begin to care about William, begin to want things to turn out well for him.
The film lives and dies by the performances and most especially that of Lewis. He is magnificent, delving deeply into the disturbed soul of a person who once upon a time wasn't that different from any of us. That we get glimpses of that other William only serves to heighten the effect of the more damaged soul which Lewis portrays. The supporting cast simply, effectively and above all honestly play their parts. The child Kira matches Lewis in the near angelic simplicity, unfussiness of her acting. No surprise since even at ten she'd been a veteran of scores of films, her first at the age of three.
You may have to search for this film as keenly as Keane does his lost daughter, but if you find it, it will definitely be worth it.
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| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 08/02/2009 : 07:13:19
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
Did anyone see Keane?
One of the BEST indie films of the decade! Why didn't Damien Lewis get an Oscar nom? Subtlest ambiguity of character I've seen for a looooooooooooong time.
I didn't get to see all of it - it was on TV and we missed most of it, and then they didn't replay it so we couldn't record it. But we were sooooooooooo impressed with how he did that character. Especially all the body language, change in facial expressions, and vocal differences from when he was having an episode vs when he was okay was like we were seeing two completely different actors on the screen. Now THAT's what I call amazing acting!
But I already knew this about Damian Lewis. I've loved him in everything I've seen him in so far - both TV and movies.
(And he's not hard on the eyes, either! yummmmmm)
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| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 08/02/2009 : 07:08:22
quote:
Originally posted by demonic
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
quote:
Originally posted by demonic
The fact that he goes back to the other girl at the end pretending he loves her was pretty much the point of the film
If you say so.
Care to state an opposing view other than being superior? Given the whole film is a study of love- real, imagined, lost, forced- that last turn seemed to be central to what Gray was trying to say about relationships.
Or maybe it was all about the negative influence of Jewish mothers.
I'm not sure that its so much about the negative influence of Jewish mothers, as much as being pulled in different directions. That, combined with the emotional problems he has, is paralleled with his mother wanting him to be happy even if it means she won't see him doing what she thinks is best for him. And then the two women being so different - both as people and how they are with him, is yet another aspect.
Here's my review of it, in case you were interested.
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| demonic |
Posted - 08/01/2009 : 14:54:55
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
quote:
Originally posted by demonic
The fact that he goes back to the other girl at the end pretending he loves her was pretty much the point of the film
If you say so.
Care to state an opposing view other than being superior? Given the whole film is a study of love- real, imagined, lost, forced- that last turn seemed to be central to what Gray was trying to say about relationships.
Or maybe it was all about the negative influence of Jewish mothers. |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 08/01/2009 : 10:33:37
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
Did anyone see Keane?
One of the BEST indie films of the decade! Why didn't Damien Lewis get an Oscar nom? Subtlest ambiguity of character I've seen for a looooooooooooong time.
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| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 08/01/2009 : 09:37:19
quote:
Originally posted by Montgomery
Maybe JP should pursue that hip-hop career. Maybe that isn't so crazy after all.
EM :)
Actually, I disagree. I think he did well here. And contrary to demonic's opinion, I think the ending was spot on for someone in that kind of family and history. But demonic is right - the main character isn't as sympathetic as he could be, but I don't actually think they wanted him to be. He needed to be an uncomfortable person to watch, because of his mental/emotional problems.
Did anyone see Keane? |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 08/01/2009 : 09:21:56
quote:
Originally posted by demonic
The fact that he goes back to the other girl at the end pretending he loves her was pretty much the point of the film
If you say so. |
| demonic |
Posted - 08/01/2009 : 04:06:28
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
quote:
Originally posted by demonic
Sal missed a few important points.
I figured that if Monty wanted that level of detail she would actually have watched it.
Probably right. But your summmary doesn't actually reflect what happened. The fact that he goes back to the other girl at the end pretending he loves her was pretty much the point of the film, so I figured it was worth mentioning.
I realise now that it also gave me a reason to sit through it to the end - so I could tell Monty what happened. Funny how these things work out. |
| Montgomery |
Posted - 08/01/2009 : 03:10:00
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
quote:
Originally posted by demonic
Sal missed a few important points.
I figured that if Monty wanted that level of detail she would actually have watched it.
Either way, sounds pretty bad. I'm glad I bailed. I was watching and I thought, very clearly, "I don't care."
Thanks for ending the story in an easier way than me having to sit through the tedious, depressing thing.
EM :)
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| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 08/01/2009 : 00:41:17
quote:
Originally posted by demonic
Sal missed a few important points.
I figured that if Monty wanted that level of detail she would actually have watched it. |
| demonic |
Posted - 08/01/2009 : 00:38:34
It made me angry that we had to follow such a useless and unsympathetic central character. It was well made and fairly well acted but I really didn't like it, and left the cinema in a bad mood. Luckily it was a free preview.
Sal missed a few important points. Paltrow decides she going to leave with Phoenix so he runs out on his family's Xmas party (his mother realises that he's running away for good and they have a tearful farewell outside the door). Paltrow then decides she's not going with him because her ex has called up and she's going back to him. Phoenix looks like a tit because he's already bought the plane tickets, a wedding ring and told his mother he's leaving for good. He goes down to the water and looks like he's going to try to top himself again when he notices the gloves that the other girl gave him and instead of throwing the ring and then himself in the ocean he goes back to the party and gives the other girl the wedding ring. Basically he's an scumbag, taking advantage of the other girls feelings - someone he clearly doesn't care for in the slightest but pretends that he loves. End. |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 07/31/2009 : 18:50:57
Two Lovers
I liked it.
Paltrow is about to fly off to California with Phoenix, but then she gets back together with her middle-aged married lover and bails on him. He goes back to his family. That's it. |
| Montgomery |
Posted - 07/31/2009 : 18:37:35
Maybe JP should pursue that hip-hop career. Maybe that isn't so crazy after all.
EM :) |
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