Baz Luhrmann, the "Wizard of Oz"tralia, is certainly a visual genius. Watching this film from 42-inch-tv made me sorry for not being able to see it on big cinema screen. Nowadays I have very little time to go into real cinema (and you can only blame my master and commander for that). But the inferior presentation could not kill the whole experience, and the last time that I remember being so impressed from composition of individual images in a movie, was Luchino Visconti's "Rocco and His Brothers". And that was many, many years ago.The first time I got to know Baz Luhrmann's name was when I was working in a cinema, as a teenager. One Friday there was a premiere of a film called "Romeo + Juliet". "Another remake!" I thought wearily, as all movie theater workers think of 99,9% of all the films that they must show. And perhaps they are not that wrong.
I don't remeber Romeo+Juliet being a megahit, but it went for a long time and I noticed that the same schoolgirls came to see it over and over again. One time I eavesdropped, what these girls talked before the film started, and I heard them say that "This is the third time I'm watching this film" and "I cried the second time much more than the first time". So perhaps there was something to this movie, I started to suspect, and went to see it - in my working time of course. Needles to say I loved it (although I didn't cry). And needles to say no other fellow worker of mine shared my view when I praised the film to them. They thought it was "weird" or "distracting" or "sick". "What a bunch of jerks", I thought.
After seeing Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet I even went to see Shakespeares plays into live theater. And I still do, even though I find it hard get companion. So I think very warmly about Baz Luhrmann's movies, but I still don't find people from my friends, who would care for Luhrmann's films. Perhaps I have lived my life completely wrong. Perhaps I have familiarized myself with totally wrong companions. Anyway, I think that Australia is once again 100% guaranteed Luhrmann style: needle sharp directing, image composing, casting and characters with strange vulnerability. See it, it's woth it.
Blocker's Verdict: 4/5
Word of the day: Eavesdrop = To hear a conversation one is not intended to hear; to listen in.
No comments:
Post a Comment