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| Marj |
 Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 4:25 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Manhattan
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Trish wrote: moving this from current film
well I finally saw The Notorious Betty Page and well I was very underwhelmed, in fact I was incredibly bored by the film. Mol is a beautiful girl and I guess I sort of understand you gentlemen going a bit ga ga over her performance - she made a lovely nude (and clothed) model but really a Blanche nod - for what? for what? her beautiful porcelain skin, perfect tits her boldness as far as nudity is concerned? big deal where was the beef (not beaver!)? I don't blame Mol that much she did the best I guess she could with how the role was written - but still it was dull dull dull
Trish - Tim, Mr. Brownstone used to say that he often chose to see a film because of an actor. That's how I felt about Bettie Page. I tried my best to warn everyone that the film is pretty bad, but it is the acting performance of Gretchen Mol that stuck with me.
Perhaps because Billy and I both come from acting backgrounds we saw something you and Mo didn't. OTOH, Syd and Nancy saw it too, so there goes that theory. At any rate I can't talk someone into loving a particular performance. But still it is somewhat amazing to me that the transformation Mol had to make to become Bettie Page was something you and Mo didn't even mention, to say nothing of the seamless way she found her way into Bettie's personality.
My guess is that if this had been a bigger film with Mol getting some buzz, Oscar or not, perhaps you might have seen it differently. But the film was bad. No getting around that and sometimes it's just hard to see a great performance in a bad film. |
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| Melody |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 4:42 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: TX
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I agree it's awfully tiring to watch a blah movie with an overpowering performance, Marj. Case in point: Transamerica. Felicity Huffman, the gorgeous actress, portrays a man transitioning into a plain, downright horsey-looking woman. A truly dazzling performance of a woman playing a man trying to play a woman, stuck inside an inane cross-country road trip movie.
I want to see The Notorious Bettie Page, though, if for no other reason than director Mary Harron, whose I Shot Andy Warhol and American Psycho I liked a lot, plus she's one of HBO's go-to directors for their marquee series like Six Feet Under and Big Love.
Don't give up on me, Marj. I'll let you know what I think of Ms. Mol as soon as I get my hands on the DVD. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:07 pm |
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Marj wrote: Trish wrote: moving this from current film
well I finally saw The Notorious Betty Page and well I was very underwhelmed, in fact I was incredibly bored by the film. Mol is a beautiful girl and I guess I sort of understand you gentlemen going a bit ga ga over her performance - she made a lovely nude (and clothed) model but really a Blanche nod - for what? for what? her beautiful porcelain skin, perfect tits her boldness as far as nudity is concerned? big deal where was the beef (not beaver!)? I don't blame Mol that much she did the best I guess she could with how the role was written - but still it was dull dull dull - Tim, Mr. Brownstone used to say that he often chose to see a film because of an actor. That's how I felt about Bettie Page. I tried my best to warn everyone that the film is pretty bad, but it is the acting performance of Gretchen Mol that stuck with me.
Perhaps because Billy and I both come from acting backgrounds we saw something you and Mo didn't. OTOH, Syd and Nancy saw it too, so there goes that theory. At any rate I can't talk someone into loving a particular performance. But still it is somewhat amazing to me that the transformation Mol had to make to become Bettie Page was something you and Mo didn't even mention, to say nothing of the seamless way she found her way into Bettie's personality.
My guess is that if this had been a bigger film with Mol getting some buzz, Oscar or not, perhaps you might have seen it differently. But the film was bad. No getting around that and sometimes it's just hard to see a great performance in a bad film.
Marj and Trish--I just don't think TNBP was a bad film at all. I thought it had a terrific quality, a very rare quality in American movies, a very subtle quality. Of Mary Harmon's movies, I thought it was by far the best. I Shot Andy Warhol was a disaster IMO, and American Psycho fell apart halfway through. Bettie Page held true to its very unemphatic stance to the end. If it had been a foreign film, my guess it that it would have received outspoken raves. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:15 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Manhattan
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Melody,
Have we ever agreed on a movie? Well, of course we always have Mean Girls. Still a favorite and one I watch again and again. But I was able to watch Transamerica just to see Felicity Huffman's performance. And I found her to be somewhat over the top if you know what I mean.
Still if your going to see Bettie Page, watch it more for Mol's performance than the movie itself. But then who knows? You might even like the whole thing, altough I warn you it is nothing like Big Love or Six Feet Under. But if you liked I Shot Andy Warhol .... maybe?
Quote: Bettie Page held true to its very unemphatic stance to the end. If it had been a foreign film, my guess it that it would have received outspoken raves.
Billy - What a terrific point. And what a notion! |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 7:39 pm |
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Water is an excellent film. I knew it was about a little girl who is widowed at the age of eight (or is it seven--sources differ) and sent to a house for widows to spend the rest of her life, I didn't realize that it was set in the 1930s. The movie is not just about the straitjacket placed on these women in the name of religious tradition, it's about how the straitjacket was loosened a bit under the influence of reformers, expecially Gandhi. It's often stark, sometimes tragic, but there is also hope.
It's hard to judge the performances. Sarala is okay as the little girl but somewhat unexpressive. She doesn't really compare with Sarah and Emma Bolger in In America or the children in Ponette, for example. Lisa Ray plays a woman who was widowed at the age of nine and, despite never even meeting her husband, was sent to the house for widows. She is now in her mid-twenties and it looks like she may have found a way out. The Congress has recently passed a law allowing widows to remarry. (Nobody has bothered to tell the widows at the house.) A man who befriended the little girl meets the beautiful widow as is willing to marry her despite her widowhood. Ray is very good in this part, although I may be giving her extra credit for being gorgeous. John Abraham is also good at the love interest. My favorite performance is Seema Biswas as Shakuntala. who finally puts conscience over religion.
Lady Wakasa's Blanche nomination for cinematography was well taken. Thanks for the recommendation. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 7:54 pm |
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| Sarala's Chuiya was every bit as realized as any child performance I've ever seen in my life. And then some. . . |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 8:18 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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billyweeds wrote: mo_flixx wrote: Trish wrote: but it was sooo boring from beginning to end - I do get she was trying not to turn Bettie into a some fantasy fueled characterture and the point made in the court scene about similar scenes in hollywood films being okayed etc etc - but you know I watched a number of flms about censorship (ie. The People vs. Larry Flynt) and they had a hell of lot more compelling scenes in the court room than this film.
its was so damn dull and I left thinking who cares! - which is not where I wanted to end up
As to the Blanche nominations, I find them a surprise; especially in light of 2006's other women's performances (and wonderfully _written_ roles).
Have you made your nominations yet? Don't think so; wondering what they will be.
I've already made them.
Dench, Hudson, & Mirren - but it's a tough call this year with so many other outstanding perfs. Esp. Winslet and Blanchett. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 8:33 pm |
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No one has commented on my observation about the the real Bettie Page being alive as a possible factor in the limitations of the BETTIE PAGE script.
I'm willing to see the film again to look exclusively at Mol's performance, but I think that the fact that the filmmakers had to tiptoe around the real Bettie Page was perhaps responsible for some of the dullness in the script and the film in general.
Certainly, Mol must have regarded the part as the role of a lifetime. Not many actresses ever get a chance to play an icon of this stature (or have the physical attributes to do it justice). |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:03 pm |
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Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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Given the subject matter, I think it was quite brave (or desperate) of Gretchen Moll to make this film. It could have easily degenerated into anodyne, soft porn.
But Mo is right, the fact that the filmmakers were looking over there shoulders at a possible law suit, may be the reason the film was a lot tamer than perhaps it ought to have been. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:44 pm |
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| Though I understand they presented a more "liberal, upbeat" Bettie Page than the real woman. She apparently was a lot more disturbed by some of the work she did than the film suggests. Odd that they would avoid this, especially if there was fear of a lawsuit. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 12:39 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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I knew nothing about Bettie Page until I saw the film. Then I tried researching her like mad and could only find photos. And there were a ton of those. But I find discussing the real person fascinating.
Mo, I'd love it if you took another look at it.
And I must tell you all that no matter how you felt about the movie or Gretchen Mol's performance I really appreciate everyone watching it simply because I made the request. That means a lot more to me than how you vote.
Billy, I agree that this film is better than I Shot Andy Wharhol but I would need to see it again to see what you saw in it. It has been some time. But I will! |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 12:41 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| delete |
Last edited by Marc on Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:01 am |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:32 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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marj,
"oops" should have simply been "delete". |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:28 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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Interesting to see the real Bettie. She still has her bangs even if they are grey. |
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