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disbelief11My friend and I went to see Secretary last night, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader. The movie is based on a short story by Mary Gaitskill; I haven't read the story but from what I hear it has a rather grim tone. Yet this movie is a romantic comedy. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I have rather disjointed feelings about the film.
On one level the movie seems to want to show strait-laced audiences that the people involved in S&M relationships are happy and have chosen that lifestyle. They are not "freaks" and they do give and receive love in their relationship. Yet the climax and denouement Secretary gives us has a dreamlike feeling that I thought took away from this point.
I would have also liked to have seen more steps in the development of Maggie Gyllenhaal's character, Lee. Because while she has increased her confidence and sense of self-empowerment by the end of the movie, she seemed to have gotten there pretty quickly. And at first I found her love for James Spader's character, E. Edward Grey, to be merely transference of feelings from her father to her new boss.
Ultimately, this movie left me with more questions about the characters and the desire to read Gaitskill's story. But I can say that I found Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader mesmerizing - I enjoyed both of their performances. And Jeremy Davies (from Saving Private Ryan and Twister, among other things) was terrific as an alternate love-interest for the Lee character.
After the movie, we popped into Chuck E. Cheese to play skeeball. We had a great time, although I kept having to remind myself not to swear in front of the young'uns. Though after our 25th game, our backs started to hurt. We started giggling over our "skeeball exercise regimen" - we certainly were feeling the burn!
Some of those kids were rather predatory too. If you weren't careful, the little urchins would scoop your game tokens and tickets right out from under you, clutching them in their grubby little hands and dreaming of the cheapie tchotchkes they'd get to take home with the tickets. At some points it was like being surrounded by an unruly street gang. With really short gang members.
And by the way, I think the idea that heaven and hell are right here on earth is proven at Chuck E. Cheese. The manager there certainly looked like he was in hell.
Tonight I went to see another movie. Though I had planned on seeing Igby Goes Down, it was sold out, so instead I saw Spirited Away. It's a Japanese animated film about a little girl who gets caught in a spirit world, and the things she has to do in order to return to the human world (saving her parents along the way). It was absolutely beautiful and full of great characters. The movie praises bravery, friendship, and love. I highly recommend it!
And now it's a bit after 2am and I've just had a grilled cheese sammich for dinner. (Just in case anyone was wondering about the title of this entry. Hee.)
On one level the movie seems to want to show strait-laced audiences that the people involved in S&M relationships are happy and have chosen that lifestyle. They are not "freaks" and they do give and receive love in their relationship. Yet the climax and denouement Secretary gives us has a dreamlike feeling that I thought took away from this point.
I would have also liked to have seen more steps in the development of Maggie Gyllenhaal's character, Lee. Because while she has increased her confidence and sense of self-empowerment by the end of the movie, she seemed to have gotten there pretty quickly. And at first I found her love for James Spader's character, E. Edward Grey, to be merely transference of feelings from her father to her new boss.
Ultimately, this movie left me with more questions about the characters and the desire to read Gaitskill's story. But I can say that I found Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader mesmerizing - I enjoyed both of their performances. And Jeremy Davies (from Saving Private Ryan and Twister, among other things) was terrific as an alternate love-interest for the Lee character.
After the movie, we popped into Chuck E. Cheese to play skeeball. We had a great time, although I kept having to remind myself not to swear in front of the young'uns. Though after our 25th game, our backs started to hurt. We started giggling over our "skeeball exercise regimen" - we certainly were feeling the burn!
Some of those kids were rather predatory too. If you weren't careful, the little urchins would scoop your game tokens and tickets right out from under you, clutching them in their grubby little hands and dreaming of the cheapie tchotchkes they'd get to take home with the tickets. At some points it was like being surrounded by an unruly street gang. With really short gang members.
And by the way, I think the idea that heaven and hell are right here on earth is proven at Chuck E. Cheese. The manager there certainly looked like he was in hell.
Tonight I went to see another movie. Though I had planned on seeing Igby Goes Down, it was sold out, so instead I saw Spirited Away. It's a Japanese animated film about a little girl who gets caught in a spirit world, and the things she has to do in order to return to the human world (saving her parents along the way). It was absolutely beautiful and full of great characters. The movie praises bravery, friendship, and love. I highly recommend it!
And now it's a bit after 2am and I've just had a grilled cheese sammich for dinner. (Just in case anyone was wondering about the title of this entry. Hee.)
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Date: 2002-10-06 01:54 am (UTC)Glad you enjoyed the movie. I'll have to add it to my ever-expanding "To See" list. Too bad it doesn't have Michael in it, because then I would have already seen it, downloaded a bootleg copy of it off the internet, and made icons from all the sexy scenes.
My priorities are a little skewed, I'll admit it.
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Date: 2002-10-06 02:16 am (UTC)yay! Chihiro! yay!
Date: 2002-10-06 10:48 am (UTC)Re: yay! Chihiro! yay!
Date: 2002-10-06 10:58 am (UTC)