Passchendaele

[icepixie]

I finally got around to watching Passchendaele. I tend to avoid war movies like the plague--I can't hear any of the dialogue over the thunder of the artillery, I always lose track of who's who under the uniforms and mud, and even when I can figure out what's going on, I generally don't care--but this starred Paul Gross, who's always pretty amazing, so I gave it a go. I think I'll give you my reaction in a good/bad list:

Good

1. Pretty, pretty scenery in Western Canada. Pretty lighting. Pretty, although not exceptional, cinematography. Paul Gross is rather pretty too.


2. The acting was largely very good, especially Gross and Caroline Dhavernas.


3. I like the reoccurring motif of painting a picture with words, and that the picture was always of a man on a horse in the foothills etc. etc.


4. They made a reasonable effort at depicting the shattering effect of the first war to use modern weaponry and military techniques. IMO there are novels of the period and the years immediately after that do it better, but I'm a snooty Modernist elitist, so of course I think that.

Bad

1. The film was otherwise kind of a mess. There was supposed to be a Christian allegory going on (I assume, given the whole crucifixion thing), and the kestrel probably tied into that, but I'll be damned if I know how it all was supposed to interlock. I sort of cared about the main character, and I liked the Colonel, but didn't really give a damn about anyone else, mostly because I couldn't figure out what was going on half the time. (Sarah was addicted to morphine! But then she wasn't! I have no idea why. And I have no idea why the town only just then decided to ostracize her and her brother for their father's return to the German forces; did they only just find out about it? That was never clear. And really, why did the major at the recruiting station go after Dunne when Dunne did what the major wanted by signing up again?)


2. I'm a horrible person for typecasting, BUT: a hybrid of Benton Fraser and Geoffrey Tennant was kissing Jaye Tyler on my screen, and that was really, really weird.

*

In other news, a couple more pictures. Still working with macro, but now branching out to shallow depths of field.

Comments

[aria]

...I know it was under your 'bad' section, but so far nothing in particular has induced me to watch Passchendaele, and then you said Benton Fraser and Geoffrey Tennant was kissing Jaye Tyler on my screen, and that was really, really weird and suddenly that is TOO STRANGELY AWESOME TO RESIST. I may be wired a little wrong here. XD

Also, your camera experiments continue gorgeous.

[icepixie]

I may be wired a little wrong here.

Bwahahaha!

It was so weird, though. Since, you know, Paul Gross doesn't age, and his hair was cut exactly like it was on dS, it was basically like Fraser was onscreen, but speaking a bit more like Geoffrey. And it hasn't been all that long since WF was on the air, so Caroline Dhavernas didn't look much different, and just...it was odd. Especially since I can't imagine ever shipping either Fraser/Jaye or Geoffrey/Jaye. (Though genfic featuring Fraser enlisting a reluctant Jaye and her talking menagerie to solve some kind of international crime would be awesome.)

Also, your camera experiments continue gorgeous.

Thank you! :)

[magsyb.livejournal.com]

I adore those two pictures.. *hides them in a chest*

[icepixie]

Hee. I'm glad you like them.