Tristan Shandy is lots of fun, what appears to be an adaptation in the spirit of a notoriously unfilmable and unread novel. It captured what I remember of my abortive attempt to read the book years ago -- the digressions and the humor. Good performances all the way around, with a nice little cameo from Gillian Anderson. Recommended, though not for those big on story and who don't like potted costume dramas (or costume dramas in general).
Speaking of Gillian Anderson, I didn't mention how much I enjoyed Bleak House, especially her performance as Lady Deadlock. It's funny that they've done a new version of this novel, when it wasn't all that long ago since the last one, which was very good as well. I don't know the Dickens oeuvre as well as I should, but I do know this novel. It's a searing indictment of the British class and legal systems. The movies captured this well, and captured Dickens' signature characters. What they missed, of course, from this novel, is the brooding narrator who has a heavy sense of outrage and irony. I should go back to the novel one of these days.
Night Watch: I very much enjoyed this movie the other night, a Russian movie that set, I guess, box office records there. The story is pretty ridiculous, and had it been an American movie I would have scoffed all the way through. I still scoffed, but enjoyed hearing the Russian spoken -- you don't hear that much Russian -- and also enjoyed the fact that I could see a culture that I know very little about. There were lots of shots and occurrences in the movie that felt like jokes I wasn't getting. The movie was terrific visually. Still, I doubt if I'll see the sequels.
Finally, does anyone know what became of The Woman Chaser? This adaptation of the fine Charles Willeford novel played for about a week, if that long, in San Francisco some years back, and shrank out of site. Strange that it's not on DVD, when nearly everything goes to DVD. I'd love to see the movie, if anyone knows where it can be found.
10:26:53 AM 
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