Kathy and Ingrid hit the snow

Here's my housemate Kathy and her dog Ingrid at about 11:00 this morning. Ingrid is much more thrilled about the situation than Kathy, possibly because Ingrid has that thick Schipperke fur coat (not to mention a little extra, eh-hem, padding) -- just made for days like this.

11:28:42 AM      trackback [] 

Mystic River accents

I saw “Mystic River” Friday night. Anytime a movie is set in the Boston area, the local gauge of whether it’s going to work or not is in the accents. It seems to be nearly impossible for actors to get the accent right unless they’re Matt and Ben or the Wahlberg boys who all grew up here. In “The Perfect Storm,” Marky Walhberg was one of the few who got it right among some atrocious tries. Some actors try to sound like the Kennedy’s, who have an accent all to themselves. Others sound like Vermont farmers, which is nothing like the urban Boston accent. So sometimes it’s better when actors don’t even attempt it because it’s just distracting.

In “Mystic River,” I thought Sean Penn did a good job with the accent. It didn’t sound overdone. Tim Robbins must have been good because I don’t remember noticing. Only Laura Linney stood out as having a really bad accent to my ear. Kevin Bacon, Lawrence Fishburn and Marcia Gay Harden mostly sounded fine, with maybe an odd note here and there.

I should point out that I’m not sure I could do the accent any more. I grew up around here, but I’ve been told many times by people from elsewhere that I don’t have an accent. I can occasionally hear it in myself when I’ve been spending time with people who do have accents. A few brewskis in a bah with locals will do the trick.

So other than that, how was the movie? I enjoyed it. It has a complex story line that keeps you guessing and the acting is excellent. I think the character development was the best part of the story for me – none of them are one-dimensional “types.” There seemed to be a lot more going on inside each of the key characters than what was immediately apparent and as the story progresses you wonder what that is. A good part of the satisfaction of the final scenes is just that – discovering what was underneath the surface all along. Director Clint Eastwood's interspersed scenes of the river's surface provide the perfect metaphor.

9:31:19 AM      trackback []