cbreyno

I refuse to examine films in reference to how they may or may not do justice to its original form if adapted from another medium. As far as I'm concerned they stand or fall on their own. Period. As an example from yet another medium, Radio, Orson Wells adaptation of 'War Of The Worlds' outstripped H.G.'s original. Go with the winner.

Wit is an example of film as chamber music, perhaps Bartok's 4th String Quartet masterfully played. It is beautiful. It is fearsome. It is not for everybody expecting idle entertainment. The subject matter is --- impossible to deal with --- yet yields an amazingly beautiful piece of work.

There are telling moments that assure me that this is a masterpiece. The 'Runaway Bunny', Emma Thompson's 'takes' done without sentimental flourish, a quote from Charles Ives's 'Unanswered Question', the researcher yet to become human, popsicles, Gorecki 3. This is the A team at work!

Mike Nichols is quite sensibly restrained, Emma Thompson is simply astonishing --- chamber music.

If you have a taste for adult films this is one for you.

No sentimentalism, no hollywood bedtime story, a confrontation. Everything is stripped down to essentials --- as one is --- nearing death.

If you are a ROMANTIC see this movie. If you are not --- stay away.

First off I loved it. It is dark, modern, and forces contradictions on you. Like living in todays world. Where everybody is killing each other for their own good.

The film is a variant on Romeo and Juliet except that Juliet doesn't get to meet Romeo --- exactly.

Juliet appears to be a graduate student in New York with an artistic nature. Romeo appears to come from a cultured background, is well read in poetry and music and practices a profession which is called "wet work" these days.

Romeo observes Juliet from a distance and writes her letters. Their only real "contact". In the hands of a different kind of film maker this story would descend into an awful obsessive-love/stalker piece of crud.

This film manages to steer clear of that polarity but makes no bones about the "unhealthy" environment in which Romeo moves and operates. It also shows us that Romeo's love at a distance --- which gives him hope --- is destructive to Juliet.

Ultimately what this film is about is posing a question: "In murderous times like these how can we expect to experience the beautiful things which fairytales tell us are real, good and true and ought to be our lot?" Worse, how can we expect "beauty" itself to survive?

This is an adult film. It deals with adult themes such as life, death, love and betrayal. It is not set forth as light entertainment.

Not only is this an adult film dealing with difficult material its possible that it will be totally opaque to anyone who has not lost a mate to the grim reaper. For such a person I think this film would be rather cathartic. It was for me. (Divorce is for children death is for adults.)

This film deals with two people finding how to survive the loss of their mates. I don't think its any kind of love story. It is a mystery involving betrayed love. What might appear as romance to a viewer is actually an expression of panic --- a way of denying a great void created by an airplane crash.

The the female lead fortifies herself with denial though occasionally she reaches out. The male lead tries to fill the void through attempting to comprehend all the details, all the secrets that are revealed by the sudden loss. The female lead would rather not know. There is a subtle but powerful line spoken by Harrison Ford: "Perhaps you didn't lose that much!".

In a way this film is more about class difference and snobbishness separating two people who have a shared, shattering life experience. In this light I found the ending appropriate and very telling.