The Seed Has a Job, The Bird Has a Job, Bad Movies Have a Job

Rating: Null/10 (2 January 2004)

Spoilers herein.
Bulwer-Lytton is often parodied for his long, tortuous sentences. But he was more influential in inventing a specific form of the novel, a usually lowbrow form in its modern incarnations. This form is based on the journey of a man to reunite with his love, someone who he has only slightly seen but was "fated" to love. Usually there is a class disparity. The passion is enhanced by the stress of uncomfortable world events which test both lovers. The woman is placed in situations where she discovers nature and the man has a grueling, episodic journey. The episodes in the Lytton originals were based on the esoteric philosophy of the time and included at least one Magus and one siren.
Mark Twain "Americanized" this form in "Huck Finn," where the sex was removed and replaced with something more abstract. I mention this because Philip Seymour Hoffman's character is so clearly based on the actor from Huck Finn. It is the only well situated work -- acting that knows what it is and where it came from -- in this film.
George Lucas took a cinematic form of Twain's model as colored by westerns and placed it in a mystical context. I bring this up because our goat lady is so clearly derived from Yoda. It is so different from Hoffman's self-awareness it jar-jars.
One of the two sirens in this case is Natalie Portman -- also from "Star Wars" -- whose acting lessons are beginning to take. But we have yet a third directorial stance: more direct and straight. It almost seems that each actor was able to decide what their movie was to be like.
Lytton's form, or Twain's or Lucas' can work if there is a constancy, if there is a continuous spinning of the threads that make the fabric of the world we will momentarily inhabit. Minghella's interest is elsewhere, in a mistaken trust in the power of characters. He would have failed by himself, but we can blame all this on the Harry Cohen of the day: Harvey Weinstein. He's not the _most_ barbaric mind in Hollywood, but probably the most powerful barbarian there. His blunt interest in chasing the Oscars is what shows, and why he screwed around so much with the narrative and directorial stance.
Fortunately, no one died for this misadventure, but the now intelligent Ms Kidman is surely hurt as she is forced to redo her "Far and Away" faces.
Ted's evaluation: 2 of 3 -- has some interesting elements