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Strings (2004)
STRUNG OUT
While the concept of using marionettes for a feature film is certainly ambitious and interesting, I don't think it really works for several reasons.
The characters are aware they are puppets as they frequently refer to their strings which are also used as a plot device. This alone prevents the viewer from suspending disbelief and focussing on the characters and are constantly aware they are watching puppets through a forest of thick, black strings. They are too visible and distracting and should have been digitally removed using Greenscreen. Even without them the viewer would still be able to tell they are puppets due to their construction, but in a more subtle and less obvious and confronting way.
The fact that they do not have articulated jaws, just a fixed 'default' expression is also unnerving, especially when they speak.
I love marionettes and really wanted to enjoy this but I simply couldn't 'buy into it'. As Marshall McLuhan famously said 'The medium is the message' but in this instance it shouldn't be.
Cassandra's Dream (2007)
Wooden Woody
If you've never seen any of Woody Allen's movies, make sure you don't choose this turkey as your introduction to his otherwise wonderful oeuvre. The plot is a cliché taken straight out of a daytime soapie and despite a seemingly excellent leading cast, the acting is beyond wooden. Colin Farrell is reported as saying this movie took him more takes than Miami Vice. Pity they didn't take a lot more or better still, take none at all and start over. Abysmal.
BBC2 Playhouse: You're All Right, How Am I? (1981)
You're Alright, How Am I?
I saw this wonderful short play on TV in the UK many years ago and was wondering if it is available on DVD, maybe as part of a BBC2 Playhouse 'compilation'? Oddly I have the sound recorded but haven't got the vision. I must have not had a vcr at the time, but was able to record the sound on cassette, which I still have. Michael Hordern and Denholm Elliot are perfectly cast and are ideal foils for each other. While in the UK I was involved with a theatre company in Cornwall known as Sterts Open Air Theatre. This was pre Internet, or, at least it was very early days of the Internet and I couldn't find out any info about the playwright or his agent. It was my intention to stage this play as part of the Summer Season at Sterts and would of course not only need permission to do this, but would also need a script. In desperation I sat with the tape recorder and transcribed the whole thing, line by line. However, I finally managed to contact the playwright's agent and was sent a copy of the real script, and was pleased to see that my transcription was virtually word perfect. Sadly I never had the opportunity to stage the play, because shortly afterwards, I left the UK to return to Australia. I would love to have this play on DVD, so I can enjoy it all over again. It's a small piece of magic theatre.