thanks to a mate of mine who had a couple of spare tickets, mark and i got to go see 'bride and prejudice' last night, a week before it opens on general cinema release. i was actually supposed to interview gurinder chadha over the telephone a couple of weeks ago but it fell through, which was a pity - the woman's a legend, and is right up there with bjork as far as personal heroes go. anyway, back to the point. as 'research', i read heaps of reviews about the film, mostly from uk media. a lot of reviews were not too positive, saying the film didn't go deep enough, and missed the subtleties and nuances that make pride and prejudice such and excellent piece of work. there was other criticism of the whole bollywood thing - the song & dance numbers etc... (and another on the main actress, aishwariya rai's english being a liuttle stilted... hello? this person probably also complains about penelope cruz's accent... even though she is a little irritating, you get my point, right?). initially i think my viewing the film was coloured by these opinions, but i think i did something these people didn't while they were watching the movie - i made a concious decision to stop over-analysing, and to just sit back and enjoy the ride.
i swear, i think the whole bollywood genre is the most over-analysed film genre there is. i truly believe that the majority of bollywood cinema is made with one purpose in mind - to entertain. it's pure escapism. so can we please stop carrying on about how unrealistic it is? i think that's meant to be their appeal, and just quietly, i think the people that make these movies are well aware that it's highly unlikely that troupes of dancers are wandering the plains of switzerland, just waiting for someone to burst into song.
anyhoo. getting back to 'bride and prejudice'. i thought it was an excellent film, and demonstrates gurinder chadha's adaptability and excellent sense of humour. i was talking about it at work today, and had to explain to a fellow employee what the premise of the film was about.
well, you should have seen the huffiness.
how dare *they* do that to austen?
the already pale countenance paled slightly more, nearly to the point of translucence. this person was horrified, i tell you. positively horrified.
you don't understand, they said. i really like pride and prejudice. i mean i really, really like it.
well, i said. so do we.