Monday, October 10, 2011

My Week With Marilyn in 200 Words or Less

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Fairly insubstantial, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Indeed coming as it did in the middle of a film festival slate of heavy-duty Very Serious Motion Pictures I probably enjoyed My Week With Marilyn more than I should've. But it was nice to have something light and straightforward, and Michelle Williams is very good, never straining for mimicry, always keeping her focus on the emotional essence of Marilyn Monroe as we've come to understand her, sad and tragic but also sparkling and fun. The film itself is sort of bipolar, veering between froth and tragedy. But it captures well enough that dangerous attraction - we understand how somebody could easily go under her spell even while being fully aware of the cliff she's pulling you towards. Redmayne is still a bit of a void to me though - albeit a very pretty void - which leaves the center out of whack. Bragnagh is expectedly good at aping Olivier; Julia Ormond and Judi Dench add shades to the chorus of over-the-hill ladies in waiting standing just outside of Marilyn's blinding spotlight.

Here are a couple pictures I took at last night's NYFF screening of the director Simon Curtis with his stars Williams and Redmayne.

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