01-26-2015, 04:37 PM
So that’s where Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin came from.
I’m familiar enough with all of them today, but have been a bit mystified by their fame. I’d seen trailers of Gangs of New York, in which Daniel Day-Lewis looks absolutely hideous, and I’d watched There Will Be Blood, which I absolutely hated despite its fucking Oscar, and in particular Daniel’s despicable character. As for Juliette Binoche, I’d seen her in several movies and could sense her talent, but it got occluded by the fact that these were French films with a very bad existential aftertaste. As for Lena Olin, I’d glimpsed her on some episodes of Alias and thought, Wow, she’s slumming in this series and deserves far better, and wondered if she’d ever done anything previous. Well, now I know. This movie in large part put them all on the map. Daniel smolders onscreen -- the equal of a young Paul Newman, though of a different valence. Juliette Binoche with that screwy face of hers shows a wiry, tomboyish nature and brims with spontaneous energy and emotion. And Lena Olin? Wow. Just wow. Mentally, physically, emotionally, she has it all. All three of these actors are absolutely stunning in this movie.
ULOB makes a nice contrast to Eyes Wide Shut. While that movie was cold, unemotional, and overly articulated, seemingly mechanical in every little detail, ULOB bounds with spontaneity and throbs with emotion. So few movies can pull this off. This is a timely movie to watch, by the way, because of its backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. Anyway, I’ve been trying to catch up on some missed classics, and I’m glad I finally checked this one out.
I’m familiar enough with all of them today, but have been a bit mystified by their fame. I’d seen trailers of Gangs of New York, in which Daniel Day-Lewis looks absolutely hideous, and I’d watched There Will Be Blood, which I absolutely hated despite its fucking Oscar, and in particular Daniel’s despicable character. As for Juliette Binoche, I’d seen her in several movies and could sense her talent, but it got occluded by the fact that these were French films with a very bad existential aftertaste. As for Lena Olin, I’d glimpsed her on some episodes of Alias and thought, Wow, she’s slumming in this series and deserves far better, and wondered if she’d ever done anything previous. Well, now I know. This movie in large part put them all on the map. Daniel smolders onscreen -- the equal of a young Paul Newman, though of a different valence. Juliette Binoche with that screwy face of hers shows a wiry, tomboyish nature and brims with spontaneous energy and emotion. And Lena Olin? Wow. Just wow. Mentally, physically, emotionally, she has it all. All three of these actors are absolutely stunning in this movie.
ULOB makes a nice contrast to Eyes Wide Shut. While that movie was cold, unemotional, and overly articulated, seemingly mechanical in every little detail, ULOB bounds with spontaneity and throbs with emotion. So few movies can pull this off. This is a timely movie to watch, by the way, because of its backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. Anyway, I’ve been trying to catch up on some missed classics, and I’m glad I finally checked this one out.