Young Adam

[butterfly]

Ewan (or his agent, or whoever) has a really good eye for scripts. His ratio of quality to crap is much higher than most actors, I've noticed.

Perhaps part of that is because he doesn't worry about his image, so he takes the roles that appeal to him, when other actors might balk because of external concerns. He's certainly taken his clothes off more than any other mainstream actor that I can think of. Of course, it probably helps that he looks very nice naked.

Certainly in this one, the character of Joe does things that I cannot imagine any other mainstream actor doing on screen. The ketchup sex scene comes to mind.

I loved it. Part mystery, part character study, and all interesting. Joe is a fascinating character. It took me a while to figure out that the film wasn't linear. I love that (I also adored the unconventionality of the storytelling in The Pillow Book -- I love seeing directors/writers/actors taking risks. Sometimes it works out better than others, but I still find imaginative failures to be very interesting.).

He really did care about Cathy -- carrying around her picture and the mirror that she gave him. And he had a good enough heart, but he's not... he drifts away with the fog. You can't put a ring around the finger of a ghost. Ella made the same mistake, thinking that she could hold Joe in place.

Some people like being held, like being cared for and kept. Some don't. Some people build homes and dock in harbors, while others always keep a suitcase handy. And sometimes people change, but you can't force a change. It happens or it doesn't.

Lovely, twisty movie. Very nice to look at, though any movie with Ewan in it automatically has something nice to look at in it.

Comments

[calicokat.livejournal.com]

So... Now that you've seen this movie, too, see if you can answer this one for me: What do children "do to people"?

For some reason it's not coming together for me, most of all out of the various themes in the movie that are still in the gray for me after repeated viewings. We get a lot of clues about this.



There's a few other places this children thing comes up, but those are some of the main ones. Meanwhile, I get that everything Joe doesn't need in his life eventually gets thrown into the water, but, I don't get exactly what the signifigance is that Joe meets Cathy at the edge of the water, in the scene where she also tells him she doesn't swim.

>_>;; I'm thinking about getting the novel even though I'm not usually particularly up on Beat stuff.

[calicokat.livejournal.com]

LOL, obviously I like... totally didn't add "Cathy is pregnant." on that list, but let's just assume that one and its subsidary references are obvious. *g*

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Well, keeping in mind that I've only seen it once so far, I think that kids, in general, are pretty much the symbol of settling down. They chain you to a person, keep you in a place. Kids are the thing that Joe doesn't want -- a permanent emotional connection. He can't handle it, doesn't want it.

Hmm. Now I want to rewatch it.

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

I went and saw it in the theaters, and felt very shocking - my first NC-17 movie! It's odd how the very fact that Ewan was portraying the character made him sympathetic to me. Had it been any other actor, I'm certain I'd have found him fairly reprehensible. Instead, I saw a man who gave into his weakness. He couldn't find the strength to do the right thing, but all I could foresee were the wounds he'd bear for the rest of his life. I have it recorded on TiVo, and hope to watch it again sometime this week. The imagery was beautiful.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

It's odd how the very fact that Ewan was portraying the character made him sympathetic to me.

I know what you mean. I found myself surprised when I was actually hoping that he wouldn't speak up at the trial -- since I do agree that by that point, no one would have bought the 'accident' line. He would have been hanged for murder and... I didn't want him to be. So even though I wanted him to be strong enough to not let another man die for his sake, I certainly didn't want him to die. But it was too late by the time we met Joe -- she was already dead and unreported.

Had it been any other actor, I'm certain I'd have found him fairly reprehensible. Instead, I saw a man who gave into his weakness. He couldn't find the strength to do the right thing, but all I could foresee were the wounds he'd bear for the rest of his life.

Right -- he didn't seem evil, just weak and careless. He truly seemed to be a drifter, someone with no anchor. He drifts into lives and destroys them, but not out of any kind of malice. And he's just as destoyed, himself.