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on chernobyl and such
Sep. 29th, 2019 09:30 pmI managed to lose my longstanding blog due to a silly set of mistakes. It doesn't matter now, whether coconuts are migratory or merely carried away by displacing factors. There we were, and now here we are.
The first Jared Harris movie I saw was one I doubt very many have seen. The Other Boleyn Girl - it is not the one you are thinking of, not the one with Natalie Portman. It had quirky camera work, quirkier direction, the beautiful Jodhi May as Mary Boleyn, and Jared Harris as Henry VIII. It was the sort of movie that British actors make when they get bored (think Caligula).
The next one was I Shot Andy Warhol, where he rivaled all the other Warhols I'd seen, though the movie's star was a brilliant actress who played Valerie Solanos.
Later, many years later, I saw Moriarty in A Game of Shadows, which I think was an underrated movie overall. I was scared of the character in the books and seeing the movie did not help. I had recurring nightmares after reading ACD's Final Problem. I had nightmares of Harris's silent scream as Moriarty fell after seeing the movie. Waterfalls were never the same again. Die Forelle was never the same again. Commendatore was never the same again. The portrayal had a darkness to it that the modern Moriarty which Andrew Scott brings to the BBC Sherlock series doesn't quite parallel (perhaps the right comparison would be to the Milverton of Mads Mikkelsen).
I had thought last year's The Terror (Crozier) would be the performance to bring Harris into the mainstream spotlight. Perhaps it was too outre, in a genre that was neither pure horror nor pure high-seas adventure.
Now there is Chernobyl. I am not surprised by the accolades it has received. I am overjoyed to see that Harris seems to have finally (if accidentally) made to the mainstream. It was an excellent script, full of heart, and the acting was brilliant all around (Skarsgard, Waters, Ritter, I loved the actors who played Akimov and Ignatenko). I liked the director's work in The Last Panthers and that particular style of camera-work he favors worked really well for Chernobyl while it wasn't quite the case for the Last Panthers. Jared Harris's Legasov was the best part of it for me. It was good to see a scientist's portrayal that was neither marked by autism nor by better-than-you arrogance (looking at you, Hollywood movies). Hopefully this success doesn't mark him for a Bond villain a la poor Christopher Waltz or Javier Bardem.
Yes, this is no Wordpress. It's enough, nevertheless.
The first Jared Harris movie I saw was one I doubt very many have seen. The Other Boleyn Girl - it is not the one you are thinking of, not the one with Natalie Portman. It had quirky camera work, quirkier direction, the beautiful Jodhi May as Mary Boleyn, and Jared Harris as Henry VIII. It was the sort of movie that British actors make when they get bored (think Caligula).
The next one was I Shot Andy Warhol, where he rivaled all the other Warhols I'd seen, though the movie's star was a brilliant actress who played Valerie Solanos.
Later, many years later, I saw Moriarty in A Game of Shadows, which I think was an underrated movie overall. I was scared of the character in the books and seeing the movie did not help. I had recurring nightmares after reading ACD's Final Problem. I had nightmares of Harris's silent scream as Moriarty fell after seeing the movie. Waterfalls were never the same again. Die Forelle was never the same again. Commendatore was never the same again. The portrayal had a darkness to it that the modern Moriarty which Andrew Scott brings to the BBC Sherlock series doesn't quite parallel (perhaps the right comparison would be to the Milverton of Mads Mikkelsen).
I had thought last year's The Terror (Crozier) would be the performance to bring Harris into the mainstream spotlight. Perhaps it was too outre, in a genre that was neither pure horror nor pure high-seas adventure.
Now there is Chernobyl. I am not surprised by the accolades it has received. I am overjoyed to see that Harris seems to have finally (if accidentally) made to the mainstream. It was an excellent script, full of heart, and the acting was brilliant all around (Skarsgard, Waters, Ritter, I loved the actors who played Akimov and Ignatenko). I liked the director's work in The Last Panthers and that particular style of camera-work he favors worked really well for Chernobyl while it wasn't quite the case for the Last Panthers. Jared Harris's Legasov was the best part of it for me. It was good to see a scientist's portrayal that was neither marked by autism nor by better-than-you arrogance (looking at you, Hollywood movies). Hopefully this success doesn't mark him for a Bond villain a la poor Christopher Waltz or Javier Bardem.
Yes, this is no Wordpress. It's enough, nevertheless.
