Reds and other movies

[osprey_archer]

It is spring break! And you know what that means: it is time to watch ALL THE MOVIES!

Today I watched Reds, which has all the stigmata of a labor of love, not least of which being the flaw common to labors of love: the writer/director/editor/whoever clearly could not bear to cut anything, which means that the first, uh, hour and a half could probably have been chopped down to fifteen minutes. That would be more than sufficient to establish Louise Bryant and Jack Reed's basic dysfunction: they can't reconcile their belief that they should be independent free lovers with the fact that, actually, what they really want is to be monogamous adventurers who write books.

Doesn't that seem revolutionary enough for anyone? But no, they refuse to admit to themselves what they really want and therefore just keep hurting each other.

Honestly, I think structuring a movie about Greenwich village in the 1910s and the Russian revolution as a historical romance focused on Louise Bryant and Jack Reed's romance is probably a mistake. Also, making one movie about both of them and wasting half of it on Louise and Jack means that neither gets very fully explored. There ought to be two miniseries, ensemble pieces exploring the politics and personalities of both: the political and artistic ferment of Greenwich Village and the assault on it after World War I, the heady enthusiasm of the early Russian revolution and its devolution thereafter.

Both would be tragedies, but the giddy wonderfulness of it - all these characters who think they're remaking the world - would be worth it. (Plus, I would looooove to see the fic. Politburo fic, everyone! Like Founding Fathers fic, except more murder-y!)

***

I keep changing my mind about which movies to see this week. Right now in my queue I have The Green Hornet, Amazing Grace (18th century English politics movie! PLEASE BE AMAZING), As You Like It, and The Road to El Dorado, but I keep changing it. Like, maybe I should finally get around to Rozema's Mansfield Park? Or Gone with the Wind?

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Politburo fic, everyone! Like Founding Fathers fic, except more murder-y!)

Haha--this line made me laugh :D

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Even the Founding Fathers had Hamilton & Burr!

But the Federalists never set up gulags for the Jeffersonian democrats or anything like that. Man, everyone else got way more excitingly bloodthirsty revolutions than us.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Man, everyone else got way more excitingly bloodthirsty revolutions than us.

TRUTH

[poeticknowledge.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh! :) I have sooooo many movies to recommend you: American Beauty, Life of Pi, Snow White and the Huntsman, Wreck-It Ralph, The Conspirator (about Abraham Lincoln), Pleasantville, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Words, The Descendants....there are so many! :D Have you seen any of the ones I listed? I'd highly recommend them all if you haven't! And yay!!! Spring Break! :D

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I think you've mentioned The Conspirator - and it's on Netflix instant! It looks like fun: it's hard to go wrong with historical legal dramas. (Actually, I'm sure historical legal dramas can go terribly, terribly wrong, but most of the ones I've seen have been excellent.)

And they had The Perks of Being a Wallflower in the cinema on campus, but it was a busy weekend so I couldn't go. It was sad. :(

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Amazing Grace. Er, it's also kind of slashy (this is not an accident; apparently the historical letters between Penn and Wilberforce suggest a very close relationship). There's a nice fic at AO3, too.

The Road to El Dorado is great fun, too!

I'm about to watch Mongol, plus we've been guilty-pleasure-watching The Tudors.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Gosh, eighteenth century English legal drama with slashiness, WHATEVER SHALL I DO?

I liked Lady Sarah and Garrow fine in Garrow's Law...but after season 1, they really toned down the slashy nemesis thing that Garrow and Silvester had going (the duel. THE DUEL!) and I kind of missed that.

[silverusagi]

(18th century English politics movie! PLEASE BE AMAZING)

It was pretty good, from what I remember.

maybe I should finally get around to Rozema's Mansfield Park?

I don't know which version this is, but there's really not a Mansfield Park movie I like.

Go for Amazing Grace, lol.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

This is the Mansfield Park without Billie Piper. I have no strong feelings about Billie Piper as an actress, but the fact that she's basically standing in a come hither posture on the DVD cover shows me that no one involved in this production understood Fanny even slightly.

Amazing Grace is definitely higher on the list than any version of Mansfield Park.

[silverusagi]

This is the Mansfield Park without Billie Piper.

Ah. Then I didn't think anyone on either production understood MP, lol. This version doesn't have a come hither Fanny, but it has some other quirks of its own.

I have methodically watched all Austen adaptations (except NA, which I haven't read yet) and have Opinions on all of them, lol.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Northanger Abbey is awesome! You should read it! Catherine Morland is sweet and goofy and a little bit dim, and overall pretty adorable.

[silverusagi]

It's on my list! But right now I'm reading MP for the second time, and I just got the annotated S&S, so that will take me a while.

And then there's the fact I read way too much fanfic. I wonder how many real books I could read if I wasn't reading fanfic.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed that version of Mansfield Park, but, disclaimer: I never finished the book, because it bored me to tears. The only Austen I couldn't finish.

And I agree 110% about Reds...

[c-maxx.livejournal.com]

Amazing Grace is very good, I thought. Not a rip-snorting adventure, except on a certain level, but a good subject, and very well executed.

The theater version of Reds had the first half much shortened, and I thought, much better.

We rented it recently from the library, and I barely made it through the first half. By time they got to Russia, I had run out of time, maybe interest, and we had to return it...

Re: And I agree 110% about Reds...

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I figured it wouldn't be a rip-snorting adventure, given the description, but political drama with pretty costumes is pretty much right up my alley.

I'm glad someone had the sense to tell the producers of Reds to shorten the first half! Even if they did eventually release the whole darn thing, on the mistaken belief that the movie was better with endless Greenwich Village. The Russian Revolution bits are a lot of fun, but by the time we finally got there I was like, 'Shouldn't this have been happening an hour ago?"