FIRST (and hopefully final) FLOP....
By Yahoo! Shopping User Dec 20, 2000
As a longtime devotee of Greenaway (who I regard
as somewhat superhuman),I eagerly awauted seeing 8
1/2 WOMEN for over a year. I bought the screenlay
from Vois Dis,but refrained from reading it until I'd
seen the film,wanting to be surprised and the...n compare
it to the source. When it finally started playing
festivals,I was reading and hearing nothing but negative
things-but this was no suprise,as the very reasons why most
people can't tolerate Greenaway are the same reasons I
adore him. I consider the PILLOW BOOK one of the finest
films I've seen made in my lifetime,and am a huge fan
of all his work-but I tried to keep expectations to
a minimum to appreciate the film for what it was
when the time came. I certainly wouldn't have expected
this. Usually when a Greenaway film does less than
stellar in the box office,its simply because genuinely
innovative and intelligent films (let alone ones that are
unapollogetic in heir artiness AND bypass the KKK's- excuse
me,the MPAA's-ratings game)are usually taking one for
the team. PROSPERO's BOOKS,THE BABY OF MACON and THE
PILLOW BOOK are Greenaway at his peak thus far. His
latest,however,is simply BAFFLING- and not in a wonderfully
challenging,awe-inspiring way as usual. It's just UNMAGINIABLY AWFUL. Even
the tradmark visuals are minmal (read:lackluster) by
Greenaway standards. It's a painfully awkward,unfunny and
inept 'comedy' that marks Greenaway's first (and
hopefully final) JUSTIFIED flop. It happens to the best of
us,and lets hope this is just a misstep for PG.He seems
to be in a bad place. The result is a
bitter,misogynistic and unrewarding labor about a widower who finds
inspiration in Fellini's great film 81/2-and then filters
whatever joy he finds there through his life,with which he
is very frustrated as art and life fail to match
up-and out of spite he seems to take out his anger on
the object of his affection,and we feel both the
character -and perhaps Greenaway himself-finding himself
unhappy and disenchanted by the artform which once gave
him reason to live. It seems almost as though
Greenaway fell out of love with the material during
production. Perhaps,since the establishing and decnstruction
of artifices meant to sort out this life is perhaps
the artist's most promnent recurring theme, this is
actually a beuatifully realized film. HOWEVER....don't I
usually LOVE it when he frusrates me? Have I gotten sick
of Greenaway,or has Greenaway just goten sick of
film? Hopefully neither,and this will simply be looked
back on as one of his less impressve films. OR,perhaps
time will tell-and I'll reevaluate this film as a
great achievement that ranks with his finest
work....it's just that right I now I simply don't see that
happening. My friend and I-two hardcore fans-spoke daily for
the week following our screening...each of us stunned
by how BAD the film was. Words like
exquisite,elegant and superlative were suddenly replaced
with.....painfull.stinky.
warnings to run away at the sight of the title. Somebody
out there,please prove me wrong. I'd like to come
around on this-but I just didn't like it-and can't
recommend it to ANYONE.Even Greenaway fans might want to
steer clear.Sorry Read more Less
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