Masterpiece Theater is in the middle of a three-month Jane Austen festival. The host is X-Files star Gillian "I just ate a lemon" Anderson. Here is my take on the series, so you can decide whether to Netflix or not:
Persuasion - Missed it.
Northanger Abbey - There are some people in the world who need to be reminded that Jane Austen was meta before meta was meta. This movie is can be the reminder. They did a great job of capturing the tone of the book and balancing it with the courtship/marriage drama that is no less important here than in her "standard" novels. It was funny, well-paced, well-cast, etc. It's nice to see this book get some care and attention.
Mansfield Park - This was good too, but the movie struggles for the same reason the book does: the end is a foregone conclusion. It's clear early on that Fanny and Edward are meant to be. You want the heroine to get her man. You just have to wait for the guy to get it (Sex and the City, much?). You know that there is no way in holy hell that Jane Austen would keep them apart in the end. So no matter how obnoxious/hideous the antagonists are, you can't get too worked up over it.
Miss Austen Regrets - I went into this one with very low expectations.They made that Anne Hathaway movie last year and it annoyed me (I never actually saw it). Biographies of people you know little about have got to be lame, right? The point of Jane Austen is that she is so mysterious--she was right to control her image the way she did. Her novels are so spot-on in their judgments that you have to trust the voice. Knowing that she was human would diminish that. But in this case they showed that she was the voice, and she was awesome (sort of a duh moment there, but I'm not ashamed). In this movie Jane was so smart, so sympathetic, and so extraordinary that I couldn't help but love it more and more as it progressed. It was true to the spirit of her work, with a bittersweet ending layered in. Very good.
Pride and Prejudice - They are using the 1995 Colin Firth version for this, and rightfully so. Because it is perfection.
Still to come:
Emma - I can't wait to see a good adaptation of this novel. I love Clueless, but it's anachronistic. The 90's version with Gwyneth Paltrow is the kind of movie that makes people joke about gouging their eyes out.
Sense and Sensibility - This is a premature judgment, but they should have just bought the right to show the Ang Lee/Emma Thompson/Alan Rickman version. I saw it in the theater when I was in high school and I felt sorry for Kate Winslet's character because yeah, Colonel Brandon is nice, but he's also OLD. Ten years later: I'm way jealous of her. Aside from that, it's just a really excellent adaptation. The writing, directing, acting, music and art direction are superb.
You are welcome for this important public service.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment