Movies: Moll Flanders

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 19:49:21 GMT

Movie: Moll Flanders (1996)
Actors: Robin Wright, Morgan Freeman, Stockard Channing, John Lynch
Genre: Drama, Dramatization of classic novel
Ali's Rating: + + + + 1/2

I loved this movie. I borrowed it from my university library on a whim because I needed something to watch when the questionable version of Macbeth failed to entertain. Which it did.

This is a movie version of Daniel Defoe's classic novel, written in 1683. The movie is about Moll Flanders (Robin Wright) , a girl born in a jail and left with nothing in a convent where the priest molests girls in the confessional. Not surprisingly, she runs away and is swept up into the world of prostitution and general debauchery. Mrs. Allworthy (Stockard Channing) plays the whoremistress who becomes the sort of antagonistic villain of the movie. My favorite performance was by John Lynch, who plays the unnamed love interest and father of Moll's daughter, Flora. I didn't even notice til the credits were rolling that the guy never got a name. I loved watching him. He reminded me strongly of Delaunay. My favorite scenes have him in it, and I swear I seriously almost cried once during one of them. There were actual tears in my eyes.

My favorite scene (probably) was one between him and Moll. She's living with him in his studio, which is a wreck and has random icky body parts in it. They didn't really go into too much detail with the body parts thing. So Moll spends the whole day cleaning up the place, and Artist Boy (*snigger*) comes home and freaks out, right, because she moved everything. Classic movie/book scene. Clash of interests, someone trying to be nice, and so forth. So of course, when boy gets mad, girl gets mad and throws things around again. Except somehow, in this movie, they both end up laughing by the end of the scene.

There's also the whole mother-daughter dynamic which, I admit, is my soft spot. The story of Moll is framed by Morgan Freeman's character, Hibble, who is reading Moll's journal to the 10-year-old daughter Flora, who has been abandoned in a scary church orphanage, like her mother.

All in all, this was a wonderfully done movie. Highly recommended to anyone. I'm reading the book now and, even though it was written in the 17th century, it's as accessible and interesting as can be expected and I like it. Expect a long rambling on the book sometime soon!

First page in a new journal, yay

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 06:49:36 GMT

So! Here we are. This is my new writing/reading/music/movies/random-stuff journal. I write little blurbies about the books I read in a real paper journal, but I figured I might as well share this with the world. Also, any writing I would like to show the world, I'll do so from here. Same goes with my (undoubtedly incredibly deep) thoughts on movies, music, games.. Whatever. My other journal, paixe is for the day-to-day slog of life.

I've managed to keep that one for over a year now. Shall we add another, to see if I can keep up with it?

If anyone would be interested in writing little blurbies about books they've read, we could even make a community out of it! That'd be fun.

For the inaugural post of this journal, I'll say that I've re-discovered Boito's Mefistofele. The one I sang in choir either junior or senior year of high school. Holy crap, it's gorgeous. I don't like opera. I mean, I wouldn't sit down to listen to opera. But this song, maybe because I had a relationship with it back in the day, is definitely enough to move me. So beautiful. I bought it off iTunes and found the lyrics here. You can hear the alto part. They definitely got the awesome bits. "Sanctus!" And that last note.. I remember being dizzy after it.

Now, I just have to find a recording of Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and I'll be all set to riminisce at will. (that's the "und KRAAAFT" one.) Maybe my library has it.

I am also actually working on a story at the moment. A new one. o.o I'm impressed, too. It's been a while. It was so fun that I decided to switch majors from lit to writing. I'm not even joking. I'll post a bit from it in a few days (or, you know, hours).

Recent Book Purchases:
The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Margaret George
Warriors: Into the Wild, Erin Hunter
The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett
Earthly Joys, Philippa Gregory
Abundance, Sena Jeter Naslund
Without You, Anthony Rapp

Currently (Actively) Reading:
Kushiel's Avatar, Jacqueline Carey (re-read, 5th time now, maybe)
Blood and Chocolate, Annette Curtis Klause
Le Princesse de Cleves, M. de Lafayette
Macbeth, Wm. Shakespeare

Working on Story? (check one)
[x] Yes
[ ] No

Wanting:
More Debussy, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, time to watch Firefly.
Also craving some Darcy.

Paixe Reads

Movies: Moll Flanders

First page in a new journal, yay