jürgen fauth’s muckworld

Another herky-jerky time-lapse experiment, this time assembled from about 500 still photos I took on a walk through Astoria. Vimeo’s video compression adds an additional level of strangeness that makes this almost worth watching.

[flickr set]

In anticipation of the sequel, Marcy and I rewatched the original 1998 movie, a solid historical drama with a healthy Godfather finish and an astounding performance by Cate Blanchett. The new film, also directed by Shekhar Kapur, picks up the story where it left off and sees the Virgin Queen through to the defeat of the Armada in 1588. As spymaster Walsingham, Geoffrey Rush is once again trying to outplot the Spanish. Abbie Cornish plays the maid with the bursting bodice who has the “ear of the Queen” and makes love in front of sundry fireplaces. Samantha Morton gets to stick her neck out as Mary, Queen of Scots. And Elizabeth once again suffers for her country, unable to pick a husband or escape — like Helen Mirren’s QEII — from the constraints of her office.

Yes, there’s a good deal of soap opera in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, but by the time the fire ships appear, this movie has become something quite different. The beacons of England are lit (cf. Return of the King), a CGI fleet is tossed about in a storm (cf. 300), the Queen harangues the troops on a coiffed horse, and Clive Owen, as the raffish pirate Sir Walter Raleigh, does some honest-to-god swashbuckling. Forget the soap: we have reached the emotional pitch of opera.

Kapur’s sweeping spectacle forgoes all musty pretensions of middle-brow edutainment, and if you expected a history lesson you’ll emerge from the theater deaf and dumb. Elizabeth: The Golden Age is the work of a director who is intoxicated with the power of cinema, and as an aficionado of Revenge of the Sith, I felt right at home in his world. Visually, it’s as overstuffed as any of the Star Wars prequels, bombarding us with new colors, angles, sweeping vistas, and scenery-chewing performances. The soundtrack is every bit as overwhelming as John William’s famous fanfare, and Padme Amidala would have killed for this Queen’s hairdos and extravagant costumes. Elizabeth: The Golden Age opens on October 12.

Elizabeth. Shekhar Kapur, 1998. ***
Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Shekhar Kapur, 2007. ****

The trailer:

“It’s 1183 and we’re barbarians!” proclaims Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn), and she’s got a point. The infighting between aging Henry II (Peter O’Toole), his jailed queen, and jealous sons vying for the crown (Anthony Hopkins, John Castle, Nigel Terry) is some of the ugliest — and most twisted — I’ve ever seen.

Based on a play by James Goldman, the dialogue reaches levels of viciousness usually reserved for Edward Albee, with many more quotable lines than you can digest on first viewing and acting that should never have lost an Oscar to Oliver! or Charly. Like The Ice Harvest, this movie belongs on our list of Top Ten Christmas Movies for Cynics. With Timothy Dalton as King Philip of France.

The Lion in Winter. Anthony Harvey, 1968. ****

Once a year, Americans like to celebrate their country’s greatness with giant psychedelic spectaculars that aren’t about anything but the now and the wow. I took some shots from Long Island City’s Gantry Plaza State Park, across the river from 42nd Street. You can view them as photo set or as slideshow.

It’s a tough life in the neighborhood, and I ought to know: Dito Montiel’s coming-of-age drama (there’s that phrase again) about getting the hell out of Queens and coming back all grown up is set right here in Astoria. Recognizing the streets beneath the rumbling N train, the Greek restaurants and garishly lit corner delis kept me entertained for a while, but from what I can tell, Astorians these days don’t have quite as much bad sex in stairwells and fewer baseball bat fights over graffiti than Dito and his buddies. The scenes between Young Dito (Shia LaBeouf) and his girlfriend Laurie (Melonie Diaz) are sweet, but their grown-up counterparts Robert Downey Jr. and Rosario Dawson don’t have a whole lot to do. As Dito’s parents, Chazz Palminteri and Dianne Wiest get an overripe “Daddy never loved me” storyline, and in the end, everything’s wrapped up much too neatly. If you only have time for one low-income NYC neighborhood drama, make it Raising Victor Vargas.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. Dito Montiel, 2006. **

[tags]film, 2 stars, robert downey jr., rosario dawson, dito montiel, astoria, nyc, photos, queens, coming of age, baseball bats, teenagers, sex[/tags]

In the Queens Chronicle today, Marcy tells blatant untruths about life in Astoria. Last night, she could be found at Kelly Braffet’s reading on the Upper East Side and partying down in SoHo at the annual Housing Works Gin Mingle. That Marcy! You never know where she’ll turn up next!

[tags]marcy, twins, interview, newspaper, queens, astoria, party, reading, kelly braffet, upper east side, nyc[/tags]