Becky-42 Reviews

Three Seasons (1999)

Beautifully simple and culturally significant

[10/10 · 26 June 1999]

There are not very many movies that can put the viewer into the trance that this one did. It left me wondering why more American films can't be made like this, with subtlety and an eye for simplistic beauty and peace in nature. The many scenes at night in the rain-soaked city only provide a stark contrast to the scenes with lotus flowers and singing, thus making them more effective and fresh. Above this, the characters were intriguing. None had a life even remotely like mine, and this is probably likewise for 99% of Americans, who live in a fast-track, needlessly complicated, and mostly material world. Materialism exists in Three Seasons, but is seen as the enemy (the plastic lotus flowers) or (in the case of the prostitute) something to overcome. I left the theatre feeling somewhat wistful that there are not more films like this being produced today.

Hamlet (1996)

Victorian update--BAD IDEA

[2/10 · 26 June 1999]

The redeeming quality to this version of Hamlet (in my eyes)is the fact that it stays true to the original length and order of the play by Shakespeare. More filmmakers should try this, especially with Shakespeare (who is one of the obvious geniuses of the millennium). It would make sense, since Branagh supposedly cares about staying true to the original, to set it in the time it was meant to be set in, NOT the Victorian era, which Shakespeare never even saw. It is garish and much too bright, especially when the overacting and needless action is added. The dialogue should take center stage in many scenes (especially the last one).

Because of this, I prefer both the Laurence Olivier and the Zeffirelli version of Hamlet, which takes advantage of dark and spare castle rooms and the countryside where Ophelia spends her last hours.