For Saint Patrick's Day Part One I went to see Dune: Part Two. A lot of people I love and respect really like Dune. I think I'm getting to a point where I just have to admit, whatever it is that makes it a phenomenon, it's just not clicking with me. I liked the first book but these Denis Villeneuve movies, which are supposed to be the perfect adaptations, are for the most part bland and sterile ordeals to me.
I went back and read my review for Part One and saw I predicted a weak box office for the sequel. Boy, was I wrong about that, at least when it comes to Part Two. People must really like watching Timothee Chalamet trudging across gloomy orange sandscapes. I still feel like I'm not watching people but chess pieces. Okay, maybe the Fremen don't have access to dyes and textiles but why should the Harkonnens and the Imperial family have such dull, empty living spaces with few signs of culture? The only break we get from visual monotony is the fascinating headdresses worn by the Bene Gesserit and they remain the best part of the story. It's cool just knowing Charlotte Rampling is now part of a blockbuster franchise.
If not for the Bene Gesserit, I'd be compelled to wonder why we need these movies when we already have Lawrence of Arabia. Certainly Hans Zimmer's score can't compete with Maurice Jarre's but Zimmer's score can't even compete with Brian Eno and Toto's score from David Lynch's Dune. When I saw Timothee Chalamet saddling up on his first sandworm, I felt sorry for Villeneuve that he couldn't use the score from Lynch's movie. Repeatedly, watching Dune: Part Two, I had to muster excitement by remembering who was who in Lynch's version. "Oh, that was Sting. Oh, that was Patrick Stewart. Oh, that was Virginia Madsen."
I honestly wanted to like this new movie but, at the end of the day, I have to admit. It pounds sand.
The highlight of the day yesterday was running into some students at the mall afterwards. Last week, the third year students graduated at the junior high schools I work at. Yesterday, I ran into a group of girls from the Colour Guard. The Colour Guard is one of the clubs I hang out with regularly because, up until her retirement last year, the head of the English department was in charge of them. So I was very pleasantly surprised and happy to see them one last time. They were wearing their junior high school uniforms a final time before they were due to get their high school uniforms the next day. I wished them a happy Saint Patrick's Day and explained the holiday to them. I also told them a little about Dune, which the hadn't heard of. Dune: Part 2 opened on March 15 in Japan and there were about ten other people in the theatre with me. So I guess in Japan, at least, it's not likely to strike box office gold.
I saw a trailer for Oppenheimer, which is finally due to open in Japan at the end of the month. They can't put it off anymore now that it's won Best Picture. I was very curious to see how it would be promoted in Japan.
The music and the editing seem to present it as more of a horror movie. The thumbnail is the image from the Japanese poster which I saw in the cinema lobby yesterday. The colour grading is subtly less flattering and the background seems to emphasise something being built rather than something burning.
One of the main obstacles the film faces is modern Japanese movies are usually very morally simplistic. This is why The Boy and the Heron struggled. Most Japanese films now are compelled to have a clear, unambiguous hero so part of the sensitivity around Oppenheimer is that many moviegoers would have trouble grasping a film with a protagonist who isn't morally pure. This may have led to some consternation as to why the U.S. would make a movie about Oppenheimer at all.
Cillian Murphy being Irish, I suppose this is an appropriate Saint Patrick's Day topic. Indeed, I was surprised to see Murphy's The Wind that Shakes the Barley is now highly ranked on many Best Irish Movies of All Time lists.
No comments:
Post a Comment