--- In [email protected], merudanda <no_reply@...> wrote: > > looking forward a review/comparison/POV whatever comes to > your mind and comes "easy" to you and will not disturb* your > "train of thought" and the peace of watching on a rainy day > ...do not squeeze---if nothing comes out -I'll blame your > laptop keyboard in the rain
I enjoyed the French original of "Man On The Train" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301414/), but don't share your anticipation of the American remake. Let's face it -- Donald Sutherland is no Jean Rochefort. In his highest moments as a actor he has never been a Jean Rochefort. And as for Larry Mullen Jr, if I hadn't looked him up I wouldn't know who he was. I presume that he cast because someone in Hollywood thought that being one of the members of U2 would be comparable to being Johnny Hallyday. Whoever thought this is not French, and hasn't spent much time there. Johnny Hallyday is revered in France the way Elvis was in the US, the difference being that Johnny stayed alive while Elvis chose to leave the building. I thought both of their performances were stellar, and did not feel *for a moment* that Johnny Hallyday was miscast, or that he was out of his depth acting alongside one of France's greatest film actors. He did a tremendous job of conveying who his character was and what his choice of lifestyle had done both to and for him. I expected such a nuanced performance from Jean Rochefort (doing essentially the same thing), but I didn't from Hallyday. Elvis could never have been this good an actor if he'd lived for 100 years. Interesting story, too. I love the fact that having glimpsed a little of the other side of the fence that life is always greener on turns into almost a miracle that may allow them to "jump pastures." Do they? Can they? We are left wondering, as are they. Nice movie. As you say, one that much to say about the value of certainty about life vs. uncertainty about it. Thanks for recommending it. > If I/we am/are lucky turquoiseb'll share with us his > "real*" insight about movie watching as a "spritual path " I don't know how "lucky" you are, but this film brings up one of the spiritual techniques I've developed using movies. As I mentioned, I ordered this film the day you first mentioned it, largely because I love Jean Rochefort and had missed this performance. But then it arrived, and for some reason sat on the To Be Watched shelf for some time. It was not alone; there must be 100 movies in my To Be Watched queue. They're just sitting there waiting for me to feel like watching them. And therein lies the "technique," if it is one. I never read reviews of a film prior to watching it, only after. So I depend for my assessment of what it's likely to be about and what its vibe will be primarily on the short writeup in the IMDB, plus occasionally watching a trailer. I have found that my intuitive "pre-assessment" of a film and how good it's going to be is rarely wrong. The only film that has surprised me and that wasn't anything like what I expected in years was Kevin Smith's recent "Red State." That was a surprise, and a pleasant one. Anyway, the way I work through all these films in my To Be Watched queue is that when I have the time to watch a film I scan the list of them and then "prescribe" one for myself, almost medicinally. That is, I use the films as a form of mindfulness. If I am currently in a happy, shiny state of attention, I tend to pick films that will complement it, or take it into even shinier dimensions. If I'm currently in a less- than-optimal state of attention, it's a toss-up. Sometimes I'll pick a film that is the complete opposite of that state of attention and use it to "change course," and sometimes I'll do more of the homeopathic "like cures like" thang and pick one that embodies the state of attention I wish to change to a "T." Both approaches seem to work equally well, because I can rarely say that I am in the same state of attention after watching the film that I was in before watching it. Some people spend money on satsangs and retreats and long meditation courses to do this -- change their current state of attention. All it takes for me to do that is a good movie. And because I live in a country that wisely has chosen not to allow megabucks media companies to use its courts as a collection agency and thus doesn't pros- ecute downloading movies for one's personal viewing, it rarely even costs me anything. To err is human. To arrrrrr is pirate. :-)
