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Author
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Comment
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La
Reine Noire
Registered User
(4/26/02 8:59:54 am)
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Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast"
That is, by far, my favourite version of "Beauty and the Beast," for too many reasons to count. I suppose the main one is that it captures, beyond most movies I've seen, that dreamlike quality of fairy-tales. Even the Disney version wasn't able to do that on a constant basis (though the scene in the ballroom still leaves me breathless).
The Chinese actress you're referring to...I think her name is Gong Li and she was quite well-known a few years ago, in the pre-Crouching Tiger era.
~Kavita
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Draco
the Lizard
Registered User
(4/27/02 4:07:09 am)
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Re: Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast"
I really like those Czecheslowakian/German fairy-tales, at least you got to see blood in their Cinderelle.
Anyone ever seen Fantaghiro? The four movies are based on an Italian fairy-tale.
Edited by: Heidi Anne Heiner at: 4/27/02 8:56:33 am
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Jess
Unregistered User
(4/27/02 9:15:34 am)
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Ghost movies
Since we have Truly, Madly, Deeply which I just rented and thoroughly enjoyed, I would assume that ghost movies can be included. What about Hamlet? Certainly a great movie.
Jess
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Laura
Registered User
(4/28/02 10:18:55 pm)
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Chinese film
How funny Charles! I think I was watching Emperor and the Assassin for my first time right about as you were watching the trailer. And yes, the actress is Gong Li, quite possibly the world's most perfectly beautiful woman. She hasn't made another film since then, and she's also famous for Raise the Red Lantern.
I felt just the same -- the culture and the story were so entirely unfamiliar as to seem almost surreal at times. If you can stay with it, I think the film is worth it -- for the visuals (including Ms. Li) if nothing else. The Warring States period is an excellent time for tales -- many of them are set then. Hard to believe it's over 2 millennia ago ....
Laura S.
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Midori
Unregistered User
(4/29/02 3:38:00 am)
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Fantaghiro
Draco,
This sounds like something right up my alley. any idea how I might be able to get a hold of this (these?--is ther more than one movie?) Is it rental at an art-video place? I've never heard of them and am really curious to know more. What tales do they do?
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Gregor9
Registered User
(4/29/02 4:46:47 am)
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Re: Fantaghiro
Midori,
Fantaghiro was a mini-series, in four parts I think. The English title is something like "Cave of the Golden Roses". There are a number of fan sites about it, including a discussion board elsewhere on ezboard. The one below has synopses of the episodes:
www.geocities.com/Televis.../Lot/6168/
There's a soundtrack available as well, but I haven't been able to find anyplace offering videos or DVDs for sale. If I encounter any, I'll let you know.
Greg
Edited by: Gregor9 at: 4/29/02 4:48:10 am
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swood
Unregistered User
(5/13/02 7:09:13 am)
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Kirikou and the Sorceress
Midori's discussion of the Xhosa Goosegirl variation in the Fairytale Transgressions thread brought to mind a fantastic movie I saw called _Kirikou and the Sorceress_. It is a French animated film based on a West African folktale about a baby who is born to save his village from an evil sorceress.
The animation is extremely colorful and imaginative. Kirikou is a tiny baby through most the film, his youth, intelligence and courage are all assests he needs to defeat the sorceress.
It is a fantastic film, and was released in the US in 2000, so any interested viewers should be able to find it. It is appropriate for children, though many of the village women are dressed in traditional garb revealing the breasts, which means the film was distributed for mature audiences when it was released in the US.
Sarah
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Midori
Unregistered User
(5/14/02 11:29:29 am)
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movie rec
hey thanks for theheads up on the film--sounds wonderful--any idea as to how I can get it? Is it something Blockbuster is likely to have in its animation section? Or do I need to go to a more art minded film rental place?
And speaking of odd movie rentals...anybody know if it is possible to rent/buy the filmed version of Murakami's weird little short story "The Second Bakery Attack"? Its an odd little modern day yuppie alienated Tokyo-ites tale about ending a curse--hilarious. I'd read somewhere it had been made into a small indie film...
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swood
Unregistered User
(5/14/02 12:07:21 pm)
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Murakami
Kirikou and the Soceress is most likely found at a special "art house" video store, though you are certainly welcome to check Blockbuster.
No tips on Murakami, I assume you mean Haruki? I couldn't find him in the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) or ifilm.com, which sometimes carries quirky short films.
Sarah
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Jess
Unregistered User
(5/16/02 7:53:42 pm)
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Princess and the Warrior
Greg,
Loved that movie! After I read your synopsis we rented it. The director
uses some really interesting angles and the film is wonderfully
paced. Yes, it seems to have some fairytale like analogies in it
- aside from the obvious one in the title. There were spiritual
aspects to the film (ghost?) aspects as well - and the "silent"
angry warrior aspect who needed to be "unlocked" was kind
of a reverse fairy tale. I kind of wonder though who was the damsel
in distress in the film - afterall, the warrior is the one rescued
from the fire breathing dragon.
Jess
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Jane Yolen
Unregistered User
(5/18/02 4:13:43 am)
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Sigh
We just saw (finally) he Harry Potter movie on tape. Bored silly.
No growth of character, nothing surprising. Only Robbie Coltrane was interesting. Even the ever-watchable (faunch) Alan Rickman was wasted.
Jane
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Terri
Registered User
(5/18/02 1:36:31 pm)
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Re: Sigh
I totally agree. The look of the film was handsome, and the actors likeable (although I think it was wong to turn Hermione into such a babe), but there were no real characters in the film -- just actors doing their best to go through the motions with a script that was all action, no heart. Very disappointing. But typical for Hollywood, alas.
Even Buffy, my one shining example of good fantasy writing in the media, has lost it this year. Whether one likes the plot developments of this season or not, the writing supporting them is bad, bad, bad. I used to come away breathless that television writing could be so good. Now I come away alternately depressed, or wanting to throw something at the television screen.
Yet the Potter film and season 6 Buffy are wildly popular. No one seems to notice bad writing, let alone care. *BIG SIGH*
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chrisrsmorriss
Unregistered User
(5/20/02 3:15:39 am)
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Fairy tales as movies.
I believe that a film of Peter S Beagle's 'The Last Unicorn' is being made. Perhaps not really a fairy tale, but I hope they are as true as possible to the book.
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tlchang37
Registered User
(5/20/02 8:23:49 am)
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Re: Sigh (O.T. - Buffy, Season 6)
Terri,
*I* couldn't agree with you more concerning Harry Potter, the movie and season 6 of Buffy - and actually there ARE a lot of people noticing (regarding Buffy, at least). I think I'd mentioned before that one of my close friends is a Buffy fanatic - helps run a website and Buffy board (though at this point, the whole group is probably more Spike worshipers, than Buffy per se) - so I get frequently updated as to the current raving of this very active fan base - and they are ALL hugely disgruntled over the inconsistencies, oversights and just plain stupidity of this season's writing. (If anyone is interested in some of their raves, you can check out their commentary at www.btvs-tabularasa.net ). Don't know what the people at Mutant Enemy are thinking... I've been a loyal fan for that past 6 years, but I don't think I want to watch another season like this... (and with "Firefly" coming out this fall, it's a sure bet Josh is going to be too busy to be even as involved as he was this year.... Darn people going on to other projects in the middle of their current ones!). I can't imagine they can redeem much in their season finale this week - but at least it will be over...
Tara
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Helen
Registered User
(5/20/02 12:32:29 pm)
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The Last Unicorn
Another version? Hmm, I don't know if I could transfer my loyalties from the original animated version, which is glorious seventies Art Nouveau-Revival at its finest ... but I could certainly try. Will it be live action, animated (re-animated, that is) computer graphics, or some amalgamation of any given two (or even all three) forms?
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chrisrsmorriss
Unregistered User
(5/21/02 3:31:41 am)
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Last unicorn. (film)
There's a web site about it on www.the-last-unicorn.net, though it looks as if they are taking a long time about making the film.
I hadn't realised that one had already been made. Perhaps it didn't make it across to the UK.
Chris.
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Terri
Registered User
(5/21/02 6:58:26 am)
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The forlorn saga that is Buffy
"I can't imagine they can redeem much in their season finale this week - but at least it will be over..."
Tara, that's my attitude toward tonight's season finale too...and isn't that sad? When one actually looks forward to the season being over? It's been like watching a train wreck in slow motion -- and almost horrifyingly fascinating, from a writer's point of view, to see something so right (so previously smart, subversive, and well crafted) go so very wrong in just one season. The show didn't just drift into inertia, the way television series sometimes do, it willfully crashed and burned -- while all the writers (who always seemed like such smart, talented people) keep talking publically about how spectacular this season is and how anyone who doesn't like it is just shallow -- just can't handle the new dark tone of the show. As if this show has never been dark before? Um, okay. Whatever.
I understand Joss Wheddon's desire to concentrate on a new project, but I wish he'd either ended Buffy or finished the seven year arc of it before moving on to Firefly. It's rather like writing a trilogy and saying, "Oh, I want to do a new series now, so I'll let someone else write the third book. But it will be okay, honest, because I'll still be looking over their shoulder...at least when I'm not too distracted to do so..." Okay, I know television doesn't work like book publishing -- but the thing that had always been so astonishing about BtVS was that it was so novelistic, so *not* like the rest of television.
I'm glad to hear, however, that there are other disgruntled Buffy fans. All I'd been hearing is "Isn't Spike hot???" not "When did the writers decide that structure, pacing, character development and the (formely brilliant) use of fantasy as metaphor are no longer important?" The show is pure soap opera now, and not even a terribly good one.
And then I read a silly interview with BtVS writer David Fury actually complaining that the fans like Spike so much, and that they don't seem to care that he's evil. Well geez, what else have they given their audience this season but scene after scene of naked Spike? The writing has been so poor, the continuity so non-existant, the characters so two-dimensional, the dialog so lacking in Wheddon-style wit, the titular heroine so depressed, that there's really nothing else for the audience to get excited about besides that pretty actor's nekkid butt....
I'll watch the season finale, since I've gotten this far -- but I, for one, don't intend to watch BtVS next year (unless there are credible reviews that say it's been miraculously turned around, and I'm not holding my breath). Life is too short to waste on a soap opera about formerly honorable characters wallowing in an angst-fest of self-absorption and self-loathing. (To be blunt.) Most of the people I know, loyal Buffy watchers for 5 seasons, have given up already. Even the die-hard optimists gave up after the silly show with two shootings and an attempted rape. Please. When good writing is replaced by a desperate grab for sensationalism, you know something is rotten in Denmark.
Okay, I'll stop now. This is terribly off topic for a fairy tale board, even on a media thread.
Edited by: Terri at: 5/21/02 7:58:44 am
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Gregor9
Registered User
(5/21/02 7:54:36 am)
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Re: Sigh
Jane, Terri, et. al,
Weighing in late here, but what the heck. For the record: I hate Harry Potter. And the reason why was cemented for me last week and my wife and I saw "Spider-Man." As we were walking out of the theater, she said, "That's a much better film for a parent to take a child to than 'Harry Potter.'" And thus the coin dropped.
In Spider-Man, which might be a little adult in parts for some kids, no argument there, Peter Parker makes choices and every one of them has consequences--in one case, fatal. And personal. His power and his choice to use or not to use it comes with a real cost.
There is no cost to anything in Potter. More than that, when he and his friends violate the school rules to save the day, they are given special rewards applied only to them because they are such a clever trio, and which break all the rules that have been laid down for them. It says in essence, don't worry, kids, there are no penalties for breaking the rules, for smashing things up. In fact, you'll get special dispensation if you do. It's a great lie. Nothing has a price. There are no consequences. No doubt someone will argue that HP doesn't have to teach lessons. Maybe so, but it ought not to tell lies, either.
Greg
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Lotti
Unregistered User
(5/21/02 11:29:36 am)
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But I want them to break rules, too!
Dear Greg,
of course you usually find a lot of people liking a book or movie, and a lot who do not like it. Because we're all different, and have different tastes. Rightly so!!!
So it is a bit silly to take up the argument, and start to argue pro-Potter... But I do love the books, and I liked the movie. It was, admittedly, just visualized text, but I loved it (ok, ok, that was just because of "Snape" trying to look "Oscar Wilde"...). No, honest, I liked the film because it wasn't "Americanized" - and I hear a lot of you crying out at that!
It is not meant to put down all you wonderful Americans on the board, but I was thinking of several childrens-book turned into movies - one that comes to mind immediately is the "Neverending story" which was so much "adjusted" to Hollywood-compatibility, that it sometimes was the opposite of the book. Same for a "modern" Interpretation of a classic Erich Kästner, which in German is "Das doppelte Lottchen" (Lottchen times two), which has, I think, the title "Charlie&Louise" in English. Hardly anything of the origninal in there, either. Well, most of the plotline. But the characters? Just bare essentials. Faults, not-so-beautiful-exterior? None of that. - ok, there is some of that in the Potter movie, too. Not so pronounced, though, I think.
And for the question of paying - at least in the book, you find the children do pay, so not always obviously. On the other hand, I find a lot of things that I like in a childrens book/ fairy tale: That the good guys win in the end, but still suffer at the hands of the bad in between, that not all is resolved in justice, and sometimes you can get away with breaking the rules, when and if you take responsibility for what you are doing, if you do what you feel you have to do, and are creative and cooperative in the process. There is a lot of teamwork in Potter!
And especially resp. breaking the rules: I do want to encourage children to obey rules - AND to know when to break them. This is, I suppose, not politically correct, but I feel it is necessary for the children. And I believe, if all else is in order, a child will know when a character in a book is just plain fun, and enjoy the rule breaking of the character, maybe even as a kind of substitute.
Maybe this is also coloured by my being German - we had way to many to follow the "rules" of whatever leader we had at the time - from the Kaiser leading them into the first World War, to the active and PASSIVE followers of Hitler.
I do know that when I was a child, I loved the non-conformists even more than the traditional heroes. I was lucky to have both in my books. There were the traditional fairy tale cast, but also Pippi Longstocking and the like. And as a teenager, I came across Stalky&Co.by Kipling. Now, that was naughty... And I still love it! Without ever having placed a dead cat under someones floor...
Of course, you might not agree with me on the necessity of breaking the rules for children - but give it a thought!
Best regards, and no offense meant!!!
Lotti
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Jane Yolen
Unregistered User
(5/22/02 9:40:19 am)
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FRom a Scotophile
Lotti--I think you picked the wrong folk to argue with that Potter is good because it didn't get Americanized. Terri and I both live half the year in Great Britain (she in Devon, me in Scotland) and Greg is a Celtophile from way back. Midori lived several years in Europe. And those are the ones I actually know about.
For me, the kicker was at the end of the Potter movie when
(wink-wink-nudge-nudge) Harry's house gets extra points just handed to them by the head of school.
Yes--Harry has saved the day. Broken some rules, but still saved the day. And if his house had won fair and square, that would have been fine. But the corny building of fake tension with Slitherin having won (until Dumbledore himself breaks rules to give the win to Harry's house) really got to me.
Jane
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