Watch Me Entertain Myself!

Sacha Guitry once said, "You can pretend to be serious, but you can't pretend to be witty." Oh yes, I'm the great pretender.
(pilot episode: 20 January 2004)

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Notes On A Scandal

A.k.a. On A Scandalous Note. After all, it’s the nota of a 15-year old that triggers the scandal. It was a joy watching Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench going face-to-face: after all, how often can one see two Queen Elizabeths (the same Elizabeth, mind you!) fiercely at each other’s throats.

Notes also shows how a poorly hidden but well crafted, fiercely written diary can ruin relationships. Having a diary is like having a mistress; your diary and your lover should never know of each other’s existence. Online journals and blogs don’t count, of course. They are about as private as a whore’s tits.

The movie is a bit frightening to watch, especially for someone like me who’s still single at a mature age. Mature daw o! I particularly loved the malicious glee in which Cate’s character spits out the words to Dame Dench: “You old virgin!” Thank god I’m only old, hahaha!

The problem with Dench’s character isn’t her sexual orientation. So what if she’s a lesbian? Her problem is that she felt entitled to a relationship with Cate’s character, a friendship that’s out of proportion. Dame Dench’s character is a monster, but she made her understandable and, amazingly, somewhat sympathetic. Her skill is matched by Cate’s portrayal; her character also does an amazingly stupid act, but she manages to make you understand why and also feel some sympathy for her.

The best argument for growing old with a healthy perspective of one’s place in the larger scheme of things, Notes is a must-watch movie. It would be scandalous if you miss it.

FYI: Cate Blanchett will reprise her Queen Elizabeth I role in The Golden Age, a (gasp!) sequel to Elizabeth. If she gets nominated for the same role in two different movies, we can call that a Royal flush.

5 comments:

the amateur ear said...

Mukhang hindi na yata showing. Just checked click the city. I wanted to see it because of Philip Glass's score.

joelmcvie said...

Sa Glorietta yata meron pa. Philip Glass's score was great. At times it was calling attention to itself, but not in a bad way.

the amateur ear said...

Hmm. Then that would be a departure from what he did in The Hours. Ang galing dun ng kagat ng music sa mga nangyayari sa film.

the amateur ear said...

Hi. Finally saw Notes on a Scandal. I think you’re right. Glass was a bit too much in—and for—the film. He over-indulged the bass; the music was too foreboding in parts that weren’t foreboding. And the subject matter was not up to his brand of music. In The Hours the film treated of Virginia Woolf—and the existentialist angst of a gay poet and a suburban middle class wife, a repressed lesbian. Heavy, heavy stuff. So, Go Glass Go! But in Notes for a Scandal… Ay, naku. Maybe Glass is not for a film on a miserable, calculating old virgin. And a blow job. But excellent, expert acting from Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. Galing.

joelmcvie said...

I must admit that I was more forgiving of Glass's score because even though it was practically "screaming to make its point" at several moments in the movie, it was also invisible in other moments, meaning it didn't call attention to itself. Feeling ko ang attitude ni Glass was, "Score it like a manipulative horror movie scoring." Hahaha. :-)