An Account for Taste

Dear Stephen,

As you know, I've gone back to work full time and have had my time to see movies and write about them cut severely.  My hope is that after a week of my new schedule I'll sort out my life a bit better.  

You brought up documentaries I'm looking forward to seeing and the truth is that I tend not watch that many documentaries in the theater.  Sometime that's because the film is being shown on HBO or Netflix, and therefore I have to watch it at home, or because I just don't make it to the movies as much as you do.  With that said, I average about one every year, which I usually go to in the summer.  

The most obvious choice for documentary of the summer is Weiner, which I will absolutely be seeing in the next coming weeks.  But ESPN is also releasing an eight hour OJ Simpson Documentary, OJ Simpson: Made in America, that will be briefly in theaters, and chronicles OJ's rise to cultural icon and ends at the trial.  ESPN’s dip into feature documentaries further blurs the line between film and tv.  I'll talk about this more when the doc comes out, on tv that is, because I'm not sitting in a theater for eight hours so that ESPN can add Oscar nominated to its rap sheet.  

I wanted to talk a little bit about personal preference and how it affects our views on films.  These past weeks I have seen Love & Friendship TWICE, and that was before it was released on Amazon Prime.  As I stated earlier this month, I love Jane Austen and I love Whit Stillman.  This film was made for my repeated viewing pleasure and somehow it surpassed my expectations.  But it has me thinking: is it good or just good for me?

I sincerely believe that Love & Friendship is a quality film.  The dialogue is very funny and the film making is inventive (especially when you compare it to other costume dramas).  I thought back to last year’s Far From the Madding Crowd, which was dreadfully boring and slow, even for a costume drama enthusiast like myself.  L&F managed to be snappy where where others might be sappy.  Lady Susan happens to be a difficult piece of fiction to adapt because it is written entirely in letters back and forth between characters rendering it almost un-readable. I am ready to make the call right now that L&F will be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay this winter.  

Although I loved the filmaking, especially the character introductions, I think some of the supporting acting falls short-- most notably Xavier Samuel as Reginald DeCourcy and (I hate to write this) Chloe Sevigny as Alicia Johnson, and Stillman’s directing must be blamed for this.  I think there was a decision to tone them down to make Kate Beckinsale’s Lady Susan soar even higher and appear to be living in another world.  None of this was needed.  Beckinsale was perfection and honestly no one chews more scenery than Jenn Murray in any film she’s in (good in Brooklyn-- a dash too over the top as Lady Lucy Mannering in Love & Friendship).

I know you have different feelings about this film, and I will be the first to admit, I’m blinded by my love for this type of film.

Yours in Love and Friendship,

Hilary