Oscars Project: Movie #11

(Explanation of The Oscars Project found here. And need I say it? This post contains SPOILERS.)

This post might be a bit brief and/or random--it's way hot here and I discovered that my main AC unit is not cooling anything. Heck of a way to find out. The bedroom one, which I never use, seems to be running O.K. but I'm worried I won't hear my alarm in the morning. Really hating July temps in April/paying way too much for an apartment with no central air/that stupid non-cooling AC unit right now.

**Unplugs recharged laptop and moves to bedroom with working AC.**

Anyway, let's talk movies.

From 1992: The Crying Game (synopsis under letter C)

Filmsite.org says its tagline is "Play at Your Own Risk."

The characters may play the game, but all of them also play with other people's lives--whether they're men/women in the IRA, soldiers or volunteers, love interests, obsessed lovers. It's almost like a chain of manipulation, hurt, and murder. No one is immune. And at what point, if any, do people lose their right to be treated as human beings in the light of atrocities committed or contradiction of traditional gender roles/orientation? That question made me think of the themes from Unforgiven.

It was an outstanding cast but had few names I knew. I was surprised by Forrest Whitaker, who played Jody, the British soldier held hostage by the IRA. His scenes with Fergus (Stephen Rea) as they develop an odd rapport in the beginning make the first half of the movie far tighter than the second. Cinematherapy cites this "fragile kinship" as one of the examples of movies in the '90s depicting prisoners and showing that "not even maximum security bars can lock out the light of love" (p. 55). Once Jody is killed, and Fergus flees his IRA group, the movie follows almost a circular pattern, perhaps even a spiral, as Fergus practically stalks and then dithers about falling in love with the unusual singer-hairstylist Dil whom Jody left behind. In spite of the dragged-out feeling of the second half, it was a more swiftly moving film than the others I've watched lately.

Six nominations but just one win (Best Screenplay, which was written by the director as well, Neil Jordan--who has an interesting repertoire (scroll down))

It was funny to see how young Jim Broadbent looked as friendly bartender Col--my first thought when I see his name is the chubby, thin-ponytailed "Mr. Boo," the nightclub owner in Little Voice.

I don't know what else to say about this movie. Sure, it's kind of controversial and it was definitely very violent and/or awkward (at least for me) in places. But overall I can see some reasons it got as many Oscar nominations as it did. And now I can say I've seen it.

Next up: I think I'm going to take another run at Dead Man Walking, because at Good Friday pasta & aioli my cousins strongly urged me to watch that instead of The English Patient. I wonder why.


Also, I owe you posts about a pretty good book I read recently and my mosh pit nightmare experience (that one's for Cullen).


Comments

Dave E. said…
I've missed this one so far. I should see it, but there are a few more ahead of it.

Um, mosh pit nightmare?

Haha...WHAT?
ccr in MA said…
Never saw The Crying Game; never saw Dead Man Walking. Did see The English Patient, but that was a while ago. I seem to miss a lot of movies!

PS My security word is "unmoat". I now want to write a short story around this word.

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