Thursday, December 2, 2010

The Homecoming


This filmed Harold Pinter play was shown on PBS years ago, in the 70s.  

Despite being 'film', it gives itself away clearly as 'stage', 'theater', an art more highly dependent on actorial talent and most especially, on words.  Rarely does a movie script contain anything like poetry.  Not infrequently, drama contains ample amounts of it.  Certainly Pinter.

Despite our recent generation or two (or three) having their enthusiasm dedicated to cinema, look at what movies miss:  charged, in-your-face, real emotional conflict.

This clip handles two adjacent scenes, the first between Ian Holm and Vivian Merchant, the second between Holm and Paul Rogers.  The play itself, housing 4 men and a woman, lets us know who the outnumbered actually are.  Hint:  it's not the one who doesn't wear trousers.

You won't regret watching this.  The eight minutes you spend will spark your evening.


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2 comments:

  1. I adore Iam Holm. I'm adding this to my Netflix queue right now. Thanks for the recommendation.

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  2. Tess,

    I've known from Day One that you are a woman of taste. Ian Holm, yes! If you haven't seen him in Wetherby, a Vanessa Redgrave vehicle, David Hare story, run in that direction, too. Very well worth it!

    (By the way, I've 'gone streaming' on Netflix -- having polished my skill as a 'queue manager', I thought I'd go anarchic and just dive into that part of the film waters where whim takes me).

    Trulyfool

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