natsla

If you're an asexual woman in your late forties, bring a Kleenex to the theatre. 'Nuff said.

... here's another reminder that what we crave is intimacy, not sex.

Tonight there was a free preview screening at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, as a part of a children's foundation benefit. I think I'm the first to vote and comment on it, and I honestly wish I could give this film any more but six.

Unfortunately, and despite the big production, the film is full of clichés and stereotypes, I was wondering how actors could get through this dialog with a straight face. True, a few cross-cultural references, such as "Run, August, run" make you laugh, but mostly I found myself laughing at how predictable - and unrealistic! - some scenes were.

Knowing a thing or two about music myself, I can say that if this is what they want you to believe about what a musical prodigy, who never read notes or picked an instrument, can achieve in one day, then the authors' notions about love and relationships are as believable, or worse.

Not recommended to any Robin Williams fans out there either. He plays a mean Fagin-like bastard of a character, which is probably a stretch any actor would love, but not such a great pleasure to watch, especially given his earlier filmography. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is b-e-a-utiful though, a cross between young Malcolm McDowell and, say, Johnny Depp. His upper lip alone is worth enduring most of the movie's clichéd messages :) Yes, and I loved the gospel band (do Harlem churches have real organs though? I don't think so).

Actually the film has much less similarities to Forman's masterpiece than expected from a biopic on a great composer. At the moment there's only two comments on it, meaning it hasn't have a wide American release yet. Whoever thinks the audiences can't enjoy the dynamics of two people in a cluttered Dostoevskian room is deeply wrong.

Anyway, just got back from the first screening in Jerusalem. Ed Harris is very convincing as Ludwig Van, and the whole film is paradoxically reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange, with its use of Beethoven's Ninth throughout the score. Another film we're reminded of is Girl with a Pearl Earring - the relationship between the artist and the female protagonist is quite similar at the beginning to what is shown there. Finally, "Copying Beethoven" is directed by a woman, for whom it must have been important to tell a story of a woman's status in a world of Arts dominated by men, especially at those times. A bit boring towards the ending, it's nevertheless captivating.