Master and Commander
Nov. 16th, 2003 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rabid1stHooWAH!
You know maybe it's because I wasn't expecting much...or...maybe it's because I've always had a soft spot for Peter Weir...but I really enjoyed this film. I knew that Weir's love affair with the lens was going to meld perfectly with the sea. I mean, the ocean, let's face it, is NOTHING if not photogenic. But I didn't find the bellowing Russell Crowe in the commercials to be all that compelling. So, I was a bit hesitant to suggest this film to my sister for our outing. And she (as she told me later) was hesitant about saying, YES!
Luckily, Master and Commander isn't all about bellowing. Though there is a good bit of it, especially in the windy 'rounding the Horn' sequences. But mostly this is a film about Manly Men and the Manly sentiments that bind them to one another.
In short, this is SLASH-WRITER paradise...if you can envision two men in tight quarters, sweating and straining as they hoist the mainsail...this is your weevil-ridden bread and butter.
Mind you...Crowe's Captain Jack has none of the swishy swagger that marks the Johnny Depp version. And it is made clear to us that he lusts after women and does have a wife, Sophie, waiting at home. But it is also obvious...in the subtle-free subtext...that his heart belongs to another. "Here's to our sweethearts and wives...may they never meet." Let me just say it...Aubrey/Maturin! A touching love story of fiddling around at sea.
Okay, now I have made Russell Crowe spew his coffee all over the computer monitor. But the rest of you are off to the theater, right?
Seriously, I loved the emotions in this movie. This is an intensely intimate film. It made me KNOW in my bones what it was to be a member of a small village, cut off from all other civilization. It made me understand why a good Captain was absolutely essential. The health and well being of 100+ souls depended on him and he lived with them, knew them by sight, name and smell.
Bad Captains are the norm in film...(Ahab, Bly, Hook). And they are only rarely off-set by the truly great Captains (Blood or Lord Nelson) who are the stuff of legend. Crowe's Captain Jack Aubrey made me see the MAN in the fancy hat and brass-button festooned jacket. I think that is a first for a sea epic and for that reason alone...I would give this film two thumbs up the Mizzen.
But there is also...the SLASH-FIC you could write. ;-D
Rae
who easily followed the twisting plot...but had to explain the ending to several woman in the ladies room after the movie...NOW THAT'S GOOD STORYTELLING!!
You know maybe it's because I wasn't expecting much...or...maybe it's because I've always had a soft spot for Peter Weir...but I really enjoyed this film. I knew that Weir's love affair with the lens was going to meld perfectly with the sea. I mean, the ocean, let's face it, is NOTHING if not photogenic. But I didn't find the bellowing Russell Crowe in the commercials to be all that compelling. So, I was a bit hesitant to suggest this film to my sister for our outing. And she (as she told me later) was hesitant about saying, YES!
Luckily, Master and Commander isn't all about bellowing. Though there is a good bit of it, especially in the windy 'rounding the Horn' sequences. But mostly this is a film about Manly Men and the Manly sentiments that bind them to one another.
In short, this is SLASH-WRITER paradise...if you can envision two men in tight quarters, sweating and straining as they hoist the mainsail...this is your weevil-ridden bread and butter.
Mind you...Crowe's Captain Jack has none of the swishy swagger that marks the Johnny Depp version. And it is made clear to us that he lusts after women and does have a wife, Sophie, waiting at home. But it is also obvious...in the subtle-free subtext...that his heart belongs to another. "Here's to our sweethearts and wives...may they never meet." Let me just say it...Aubrey/Maturin! A touching love story of fiddling around at sea.
Okay, now I have made Russell Crowe spew his coffee all over the computer monitor. But the rest of you are off to the theater, right?
Seriously, I loved the emotions in this movie. This is an intensely intimate film. It made me KNOW in my bones what it was to be a member of a small village, cut off from all other civilization. It made me understand why a good Captain was absolutely essential. The health and well being of 100+ souls depended on him and he lived with them, knew them by sight, name and smell.
Bad Captains are the norm in film...(Ahab, Bly, Hook). And they are only rarely off-set by the truly great Captains (Blood or Lord Nelson) who are the stuff of legend. Crowe's Captain Jack Aubrey made me see the MAN in the fancy hat and brass-button festooned jacket. I think that is a first for a sea epic and for that reason alone...I would give this film two thumbs up the Mizzen.
But there is also...the SLASH-FIC you could write. ;-D
Rae
who easily followed the twisting plot...but had to explain the ending to several woman in the ladies room after the movie...NOW THAT'S GOOD STORYTELLING!!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-16 07:15 pm (UTC)While the ocean is indeed gorgeous, and the depiction of ship life is fascinating, the film in my opinion is driven by the characters and the acting. And yes, the fact that there isn't a single female on the ship makes it more interesting.
How did you like the ending? That damn French captain, huh? A good excuse for a sequel, imo.
OH...I loved the ending...
Date: 2003-11-16 07:43 pm (UTC)Rae
trying to be all mysterious...go see the film!