Through consistent mismatch of words and deeds over the past six months X has managed, bit by bit, to dismantle his considerable store of credibility and good will. Back in July, I had hoped to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with him, and this was the one faint ember that remained over time. Not watching the movie was my secret symbolic way of not entirely giving up on him. So, in honor of the new year, I rented OotP this weekend and watched it. I really liked the movie. I was less impressed by Emma Thompson's character than I expected, but this was more than made up for by the surprise (to me) presence of Helena Bonham Carter in the film. She was readily recognizable as Bellatrix Lestrange -- especially since she played a similar "type" in Sweeney Todd (criminally insane with a touch of femme fatale). Many plot threads were dropped from the OotP film, and others were merely referenced in blink-and-you'll-miss-it scenes that must have been slightly mysterious to those unfamiliar with the book (perhaps laying the groundwork for a future extended version on DVD), but on the whole it was entertaining. In some places, they actually improved on the book -- in changing things to be more cinematographically plausible, they removed or smoothed over some of the less convincing aspects of the book. And the Luna Lovegood character was nothing like I expected from the books -- she was 1000% better, wise and genuine and sweet.
Just for kicks, I watched OotP with French audio and French subtitles. (The subtitles are not the same as the spoken dialogue - they are shorter - but they help orient me and help me make sense of what I'm hearing.) I've also been practicing my French with podcasts from RFI. Each one is just 10 minutes long, and gives the headlines and brief news stories, plus a word of the day. They call it le journal en Francais facile. The words may be easy (for them), but they don't speak all that slowly so I often end up listen to a podcast several times for comprehension.
3 comments:
I really thought the movie slow but it was good. So much so I ran out and bought Half-Blood Prince.
I liked the movie, too. I saw it twice in the first week. I'm sorry X flaked on you - it was really good on the big screen!
Luna was fantastic and became my favorite character!!
Dr. StrangeJazz, thanks for stopping by! If the movie was slow, I didn't notice it. But then again, I never liked the Quidditch scenes (those were the slow parts for me) so their absence inherently made the story more exciting. And maybe the effort to follow the story in French kept my brain sufficiently busy so the film never dragged.
Runner NYC - twice in the first week? Wow! I'm not sure Luna is my favorite, but she's definitely up there.
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