(no subject)

[phineasjones]

12 july 2007


yesterday alexa and i met for iced tea (hers on the left - jasmine lime, mine - hibiscus - on the right) to talk about our assistantships for the coming year, since we're basically swapping jobs. so we will advise each other as much as possible, which is handy.

i think i'm ready to talk about OotP now. thing is, i liked it. i did not love it. but i have no desire to harsh anyone's squee ;) so in the following discussion, i will separate my likes from my dislikes, and you can read how ever much you want.

first, a general comment, i think the most perceptive thing i've read/heard anyone say about the movie so far is this, from throughadoor:

the first two movies labored painfully under the weight of their plots, we know this. the third movie = alfonso cuaron. enough said. the fourth movie turned a corner when someone apparently figured out that there was a way to work with the fact that your entire audience knows the entire plot of your movie, and everybody knows how it's going to end. the fifth movie took this a step further and was, like, hey! you guys know the plot, so let's not have a plot! we'll just film a series of vignettes from an 800 page doorstop of a book! wheeeeeeee!

this is SO TRUE. more than liking or disliking the movie, i just thought it was strange. it seemed like a great effort was made to make every scene as short and tight as possible and every event as... downplayed as possible. lines are tossed away, plot points are hinted at in passing. i thought some of that was done really well - we don't actually need to see the portrait of sirius' mother, just being reminded of it was fine - but they did it with everything and that got a little weird.

ok, the breakdown:

i loved:
- luna. that actress was perfect. and they made her both weird and sympathetic which is just right. she was great.
- grimmauld place. it was far creepier than my imagination had made it but i think it's supposed to be that creepy. and the kitchen... that long wooden table was just as i have seen it in my head so many times.
- another one of those referenced-but-not-fleshed-out moments that i thought was really effective was when harry arrives at GP and molly shoos him up the stairs... the look on her face as he walks away speaks volumes. you can see all that fear that gets written out in that scene where she sees everyone dead written all over her face. beautifully acted.
- fuschia pointed this out, and it's a great point. there are so many visual references to the earlier movies. it's a great way to knit them together and remind us of the continuous narrative.
- the visuals of the fight at the ministry. it was beautiful and frightening.
- sirius was quite lovable in the little that he was given to do.
- and, ok, so, yeah, i cried. i just got so tense as soon as they were in the room with the veil. i knew it was coming and i didn't want to see it. but there it was. and when lupin grabbed harry... wow, that was intense. and when he finally let harry go, the look on his face. thank god that moment was right. but wow, did it hurt.
- harry's internal fight with voldemort at the end. it was poignant and effective. and there was a weight to the scene, dumbledore bending over him, helpless, his friends seeing him lying there, maybe understanding the severity of the whole thing in a new way, harry finding pity for voldemort. interesting turn.
- umbridge. they got her spot on in all her freakish pink glory. ::shudders::

i did not love:
- ok, they let ginny be powerful and i appreciate that but where was her character? this is the book where ginny becomes an awesome character and... did she even have a line? i can't remember.
- not enough lupin. not enough sirius. not enough snape. not enough... pretty much anyone. except harry. and luna.
- grawp looked stupid. was that the best they could do?
- avada kedavra. who added that? was that jkr? what does this mean? not that i was expecting sirius to come back but... that just... that was not nice.
- the veil. i would really have preferred a simpler veil. and i feel strongly about it for some reason. sirius floating into the misty waves was less... impactful than seeing him actually fall through waving curtains. i think. i don't know, something about that moment, about how long it took, weirded me out. when they went to lupin and harry, it was effective again. i just didn't like the veil.

just in general... the weird way the scenes just flitted by made everything seem too casual. i wanted some real scenes with some meat tofu to them. once the fight at the ministry started, it seemed to dig in and that was more exciting to watch. but the rest was just... eh. it doesn't work for me as a movie. it works as tiny illustrations of little scenes from the book, but that's not the same thing. instead of referencing every little plot line in passing gestures, i would have loved some long scenes from some specific lines. whichever they chose. the hospital scene with neville could have been so effective. some time in snape's memory to really understand what harry sees and the impact it has on him. just... enough time in any scene that we get to feel something. the movie didn't have to be that short. we could have handled more.

i'll see it again. to check on my first impressions and see if they hold. and to see it in a better theater.

whoa. call from myrtle. the interview gig is on. i have to plan a visit to tanglewood. (um... yay!)