Change Your Image
bitherwack
Reviews
Solntse (2005)
choice of actors
I like Ogata in most all he does. But I think his casting here is a mistake. He is excellent at pulling out the one or two things of a type to set up a humorous caricature. He is an excellent comedian. I think, though, that as an impressionist rather than an actor, he played his impersonation a little too broadly. (It may be because Ogata does a lot of stage work, and had trouble toning down for the camera.) Having personally met the Emperor Showa in 1985, I can say with some confidence that though the twitching lips are an attribute, it was not as pronounced as Ogata plays it, less conscious, and more a condition of advanced age. (Hence overdone for playing someone in his 40's.)
Another point of contention I have is with the script. There are quite a few moments when Ogata orders his servants to do something; but with the subservient plea "--kudasai". In the first half of the 20th century, the Japanese language was still exceedingly rank conscious. Even a commoner would use a condescending verb form for a request to a subordinate, whether the subordinate was a wife, a servant or an employee. It is even more strange to imagine the fawning servants enduring a request spoken by the Emperor from a linguistic position of submission. Courtly language is quite different from colloquial Japanese, and one instance we have of this is from his first radio transmission in which the Emperor used the personal pronoun 'Chin'.
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
Slick Update -- contains spoilers
A supposed matching of wits between wealthy cosmopolitans set in visually rewarding locations. As a remake, it succeeds in adding enough zeros to all mentions of money in adjusting for inflation, updating the 'groovy' 60's look, and generally adding enough detail to the plot in such a way that the original reads like it was made for TV. The gratuitously embellished plot though, leaves a few questions regarding the intelligence of the characters. One example is when Banning realizes that the suitcase was put under the bench to aid the real thief. If she really were so observant and resourceful, why doesn't she just rewind the security video to see who placed the suitcase there to begin with? Nice touch including Faye Dunaway in the remake.