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Last night I had occasion to re-see "Orlando" at the MFA. They showed it because it's adjacent to the their "Gender-Bending Fashion" exhibit (https://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/gender-bending-fashion). The exhibit itself is fun, if a bit small and not entirely coherent about what "gender bending" is but anyway, movie. (4/5 stars and I can't think of a single person who'd read this journal and not enjoy this movie)
I've seen Orlando before, a couple times I think. It's the first Tilda Swinton movie I ever saw and I am forever after sad that she hasn't reprised the gorgeous long red hair she sports in this film. The MFA showed a pretty crap-tastic condition analog print of the movie. I still like analog better than digital for a lot of things, but a bad print is still bad and it's not clear to me why they couldn't get a clean print. My friend had not seen the entire film previously so there was the fun of seeing it with someone getting the full effect for the first time.
Despite being 27 years old now, Orlando remains an excellent film with themes and ideas that remain relevant. If you've not seen it you should track down a copy (it's on Amazon Prime if that's your thing). It's loosely based on Virginia Woolf's satiric novel of the same title. I enjoyed the book as well, though very differently from the movie. Orlando is a piece of art firmly rooted in the cinema - calling it an "adaptation" is even misleading. The gist is still the same: a young nobleman is given a perpetual estate by Queen Elizabeth along with a commandment to stay forever young, which magically happens.
The film follows him through episodes that span four centuries and two continents as he interacts with society first as a man and then as a woman. It has stunning visuals and rests heavily on Swinton's ability both to act within the frame and to break it by looking straight at, and then addressing, the viewer. There are moments of sadness, moments of deep irony, and moments of tragedy, all within a nearly comedic framework that gives us the (nearly revolutionary for its time) idea that a person remains the same person whether they're seen by the world as man, woman, or something entirely else.
Billy Zane is often given second billing. He plays Shelmerdine, a character that on the surface has no larger a part in the movie than others, but that is pivotal to the emotional impact of the story. On the off chance you haven't seen it I won't give things away, but when you do see it pay very close attention to the Orlando/Shelmerdine dialog which I think both serves to validate the in-film character and to provide the viewer with the film's core idea, all tied up in a neat bow for easy quoting.
I've seen Orlando before, a couple times I think. It's the first Tilda Swinton movie I ever saw and I am forever after sad that she hasn't reprised the gorgeous long red hair she sports in this film. The MFA showed a pretty crap-tastic condition analog print of the movie. I still like analog better than digital for a lot of things, but a bad print is still bad and it's not clear to me why they couldn't get a clean print. My friend had not seen the entire film previously so there was the fun of seeing it with someone getting the full effect for the first time.
Despite being 27 years old now, Orlando remains an excellent film with themes and ideas that remain relevant. If you've not seen it you should track down a copy (it's on Amazon Prime if that's your thing). It's loosely based on Virginia Woolf's satiric novel of the same title. I enjoyed the book as well, though very differently from the movie. Orlando is a piece of art firmly rooted in the cinema - calling it an "adaptation" is even misleading. The gist is still the same: a young nobleman is given a perpetual estate by Queen Elizabeth along with a commandment to stay forever young, which magically happens.
The film follows him through episodes that span four centuries and two continents as he interacts with society first as a man and then as a woman. It has stunning visuals and rests heavily on Swinton's ability both to act within the frame and to break it by looking straight at, and then addressing, the viewer. There are moments of sadness, moments of deep irony, and moments of tragedy, all within a nearly comedic framework that gives us the (nearly revolutionary for its time) idea that a person remains the same person whether they're seen by the world as man, woman, or something entirely else.
Billy Zane is often given second billing. He plays Shelmerdine, a character that on the surface has no larger a part in the movie than others, but that is pivotal to the emotional impact of the story. On the off chance you haven't seen it I won't give things away, but when you do see it pay very close attention to the Orlando/Shelmerdine dialog which I think both serves to validate the in-film character and to provide the viewer with the film's core idea, all tied up in a neat bow for easy quoting.
