Mormon Jane Austen
I went to the critics' screening of The Return today. There was a low turnout; Kyle thinks the subtitles scared them away. I'm more and more picky about what I'll see in the theatres - even if it's free - but Jean raved about it when she saw it at the Palm Springs Film Festival, so with such high praise, I couldn't miss it. I was not disappointed.
Jean mentioned something about a screening this afternoon at Madstone. It was some Christian fundamentalist film (the title escapes me), and she wasn't looking forward to going but said she couldn't resist considering it was her upbringing. That lead to a discussion about the public's reaction to The Passion. Kyle found it a strange social dynamic that he has known church members ostracized and verbally harassed for not wanting to see it (whether they had no interest or felt they couldn't handle it, I don't know).
The discussion of religion in film reminded me of something . . . "did you hear there's a Mormon movie playing at the Edwards near me?" Kyle told us the title was Pride and Prejudice. That rang a bell: "is it a documentary?" We were informed it was a Jane Austen adaptation. I am always immediately suspicious of any literary film adaptation, but I'm especially protective of Jane. "They're going to destroy it!" "Now how do you know that? Aren't you being prejudiced against Mormons?"
Excuse me? If you told me there was going to be a Jewish P&P, I'd be just as horrified. Does that make me prejudiced against Jews? Clearly that's why I have a Star of David around my neck. I'm even suspicious of any modern adaptations (Clueless never won me over). I had to set Kyle straight. My best friend in San Diego, Tansy, is Mormon. I have spent quite a few days with her large family. When we last visited a couple months ago, her family got into a long discussion about Mormon movies. Since Chris and I couldn't contribute to this topic, we sat back and listened as her entire family ranted that the movies' artistic quality ranged from pretty bad to unspeakably horrible. So you take a suspicion of all literary adaptations that deviate sharply from the text, you add in a Mormon family's advice to run the other way from their movies, and what you get is someone who is not about to piss away $9.50 a ticket just to find out if it's as bad as it sounds. I'm not that bloody curious.
Kyle thought maybe they just wanted to "clean it up." "You haven't read any Austen, have you?" "No, why? I assume there's a lot of bodice ripping." Jean and I laugh.
To convince me to see it, several people whose opinions I respect would have to tell me it's a must-see.
I looked it up on Rotten Tomatoes. There are only 13 reviews, but it's rated quite rotten. One critic quips: "A better way to combine the church and Jane Austen? Rent the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice and read the Book of Mormon during the slow bits." Oh no. That would require seeing Colin's wet shirt clinging to his delicious body. Can't have that.
Jean mentioned something about a screening this afternoon at Madstone. It was some Christian fundamentalist film (the title escapes me), and she wasn't looking forward to going but said she couldn't resist considering it was her upbringing. That lead to a discussion about the public's reaction to The Passion. Kyle found it a strange social dynamic that he has known church members ostracized and verbally harassed for not wanting to see it (whether they had no interest or felt they couldn't handle it, I don't know).
The discussion of religion in film reminded me of something . . . "did you hear there's a Mormon movie playing at the Edwards near me?" Kyle told us the title was Pride and Prejudice. That rang a bell: "is it a documentary?" We were informed it was a Jane Austen adaptation. I am always immediately suspicious of any literary film adaptation, but I'm especially protective of Jane. "They're going to destroy it!" "Now how do you know that? Aren't you being prejudiced against Mormons?"
Excuse me? If you told me there was going to be a Jewish P&P, I'd be just as horrified. Does that make me prejudiced against Jews? Clearly that's why I have a Star of David around my neck. I'm even suspicious of any modern adaptations (Clueless never won me over). I had to set Kyle straight. My best friend in San Diego, Tansy, is Mormon. I have spent quite a few days with her large family. When we last visited a couple months ago, her family got into a long discussion about Mormon movies. Since Chris and I couldn't contribute to this topic, we sat back and listened as her entire family ranted that the movies' artistic quality ranged from pretty bad to unspeakably horrible. So you take a suspicion of all literary adaptations that deviate sharply from the text, you add in a Mormon family's advice to run the other way from their movies, and what you get is someone who is not about to piss away $9.50 a ticket just to find out if it's as bad as it sounds. I'm not that bloody curious.
Kyle thought maybe they just wanted to "clean it up." "You haven't read any Austen, have you?" "No, why? I assume there's a lot of bodice ripping." Jean and I laugh.
To convince me to see it, several people whose opinions I respect would have to tell me it's a must-see.
I looked it up on Rotten Tomatoes. There are only 13 reviews, but it's rated quite rotten. One critic quips: "A better way to combine the church and Jane Austen? Rent the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice and read the Book of Mormon during the slow bits." Oh no. That would require seeing Colin's wet shirt clinging to his delicious body. Can't have that.