Rome
January 8th, 2007
After December’s mad movie binge, we’re catching up with some TV. This HBO show, which carries the names of John Milius and Michael Apted in the credits and is shot in Cinecitta, improves vastly on the production values of I, Claudius, though not necessarily on acting and drama. It begins earlier–season one tells of Julius Caesar’s rise and fall from the Battle of Alesia to the Ides of March. Interwoven with the familiar tales of the powerful are the stories of two common legionnaires, which adds an element of surprise to recorded history. Blood flows freely, betrayal, lies, murder and literal backstabbing are as common as dirt, and there’s incest, too. Cleopatra (who doesn’t much resemble Liz Taylor) has only been in an episode or two so far, but I’m sure we’ll see more of the drug-addled conniver when season two starts on January 14. ***
[tags]tv, rome, hbo, 3 stars, history, italy, julius caesar, vercingetorix, cleopatra, michael apted, john milius, blood[/tags]
49 Up
October 4th, 2006
The thing that nobody seems willing to say is that the biographical sketches that emerge from Michael Apted’s ongoing experiment in “longitudinal” documentary filmmaking are actually pretty depressing. The reason for this isn’t that life sucks and we all get it in the end, but it’s the format: even the most generous collaborator (Tony was at the press conference, and lovin’ every minute) will only put so much of his life into the movie. So instead of getting the good stuff, we’re stuck with endless variations of the outlines: summaries of jobs, marriages, divorces, kids, grandkids, rinse, repeat. That’s interesting as far as it goes (the odd ones out, like hobo-turned-politician Neal, are the most compelling), but nobody really shares what’s most fascinating about them. By the time we get a sense of all that they’re not telling us, we’re off to catch up with the next person. As a result, they feel strangely less real than most fictional characters, which are usually realized much more fully. (Bonus thought: seems that “reality” TV has learned to deal with some of these problems, but they do it through fictional means?)
49 Up. Michael Apted, 2005. ***
[tags]3 stars, film, michael apted, documentary, biography, england[/tags]
