(On some browsers you'll need to refresh this page in order to see the comment you just left.)

The Archduke Birdinhand - 2003-11-11 00:05:19
I'm thinking if I were doing the book and movie thing, I'd want to see the movie first - knowing that movies necessarily compress and limit compared to books. I was most impressed in Mystic River by the acting, but I thought it had a couple of serious flaws. (Note: I haven't read the book yet.) First, the music was obtrusive and rather tone-deaf (in terms of appropriateness). One glaring example: the scene in which a gunshot is accompanied by a sudden cut to solid white: visually, that worked well...but the ridiculous orchestral swell that accompanied it nearly ruined the moment. I would have preferred silence. The director really should have told the composer to tone it down. (Yes, I know...) I also thought the ending was flabby: to me, nearly everything after the encounter between Jimmy and Kevin Bacon's character (I forget the name) seemed anticlimactic or off in some way (the Lady Macbeth scene, for example). Still, highly recommended. Thus endeth my piggybacking on someone else's blog.
-------------------------------
Paula - 2003-11-11 09:29:08
Archie: I remember that moment of which you speak, and I was similarly irked. The other glaring musical error was the song on the jukebox at the bar, when the girls dance drunkenly. Dude, what was that? That whole scene was wrong: the bar wasn't packed enough, the girls were too suburban-looking, that lame song would not inspire dancing in even the drunkest of young Bostonites. As for the ending, I thought it was necessary to bring all the characters together again in the context of their 'hood (which after all had such a powerful sway over their personalities). It's there we get to see who "wins" in this story, and who loses. "Michael! Michael!" Y'know...
-------------------------------

add your comment:

back to the entry - Diaryland