Movie Love!
September 12th, 2008 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunadelcorvoI just watched The Serpent's Kiss. OK, yes, I'm on a certain Scottish actor kick, I'll admit it. But this was a really wonderful movie! I read several reviews that pretty much trashed it as being too slow, or boring, but I loved it!
It had a wonderfully bizarre sort of tension. The look of it was perfect - cinematography just off-beat enough to go well with the strangeness of it, but never jarring for a period piece. Beautifully costumed, and I tend to be pretty ruthless about costuming - I've spent too long knowing the difference between a martingale and a farthingale; costume gaffes REALLY bug me in a period film. But this was very well done. I have a few minor quibble with the wigs, but that's only now as I look back; it didn't bother me while watching it at all.
Fitzmaurice was deliciously evil while keeping a nice balance between becoming a parody of himself and going just far enough over-the-top to keep up the surreal tension. Tom Smithers (where have I seen this actor before? Both of them seemed SO familiar!) is just clueless enough to be credible, but earnest enough to be likable; you don't want him to come to ruin, even as you know for a certainty he will. I can't say I liked Ann, exactly, but she carried a quietly desperate sort of eccentricity reasonably well. Her character lived most through the others, I think, and I'd say that worked well in this film.
And of course, Meneer Chrome - we never learn his real name, something that I would have thought would irritate me (I get bugged by details like this) but I didn't actually notice until now - is played subtly; some might say too subtly, but I would have to disagree. He shares a kindred sort of quiet desperation, but it's of an altogether different sort.
The moments of understated erotic tension are a delight to watch (well, particularly if you are fond of McGregor), and they do keep you guessing as to how things will end up, even as you keep thinking "No, that can't be right..." But there is a definite sexual undertone lurking beneath the period clothes, and it's powerful without being blatant. I don't want to spoil it, so I will only say that it will be some time before I extinguish a candle without a smirk....
Yes, it's likely more of a girl flick than a guy flick, but perhaps not irretrievably so...I say, go, rent and enjoy!
It had a wonderfully bizarre sort of tension. The look of it was perfect - cinematography just off-beat enough to go well with the strangeness of it, but never jarring for a period piece. Beautifully costumed, and I tend to be pretty ruthless about costuming - I've spent too long knowing the difference between a martingale and a farthingale; costume gaffes REALLY bug me in a period film. But this was very well done. I have a few minor quibble with the wigs, but that's only now as I look back; it didn't bother me while watching it at all.
Fitzmaurice was deliciously evil while keeping a nice balance between becoming a parody of himself and going just far enough over-the-top to keep up the surreal tension. Tom Smithers (where have I seen this actor before? Both of them seemed SO familiar!) is just clueless enough to be credible, but earnest enough to be likable; you don't want him to come to ruin, even as you know for a certainty he will. I can't say I liked Ann, exactly, but she carried a quietly desperate sort of eccentricity reasonably well. Her character lived most through the others, I think, and I'd say that worked well in this film.
And of course, Meneer Chrome - we never learn his real name, something that I would have thought would irritate me (I get bugged by details like this) but I didn't actually notice until now - is played subtly; some might say too subtly, but I would have to disagree. He shares a kindred sort of quiet desperation, but it's of an altogether different sort.
The moments of understated erotic tension are a delight to watch (well, particularly if you are fond of McGregor), and they do keep you guessing as to how things will end up, even as you keep thinking "No, that can't be right..." But there is a definite sexual undertone lurking beneath the period clothes, and it's powerful without being blatant. I don't want to spoil it, so I will only say that it will be some time before I extinguish a candle without a smirk....
Yes, it's likely more of a girl flick than a guy flick, but perhaps not irretrievably so...I say, go, rent and enjoy!
