Review of A Home at the End of the World (2004) by Courtney W — 28 Nov 2004

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]Okay, so after a very long Thanksgiving week towing the line at the mall (yikes), I am back to inform everyone of my adventures in entertainment. On wednesday, Sarah, Beth and I did some pre-Turkey day renting and prep for [i]Alexander[/i], with Colin Farrell's other bi-sexual role this year in [i]A Home at the End of the World[/i].[/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]First of all, it was very obvious that the same man, Michael Cunningham, wrote this story and [i]The Hours. [/i]Both stories examine the stark realities of sexuality, AIDS, families and most of all death. Colin Farrell plays Bobby, a very quiet and sweet character who wants nothing more in his life than not to be alone. [/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]The most disturbing scene of the entire film happens early on when Bobby's brother (who was very high at the time) runs through the sliding glass door of his home at a dinner party. He seems fine at first, but then he pulls a shard of glass from his neck and dies. Death seems to dog Bobby at every turn, finally leaving him orphaned and on the doorstep of his best friend Jonathan's family who adopts him.[/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]Soon Bobby moves to New York City at 24 and abides with Jonathan (Dallas Roberts) and Clare (Robin Wright Penn), who find themselves in the height of the eccentric 80's big-city scene. They become an unusual family and the story unfolds quietly and tragically throughout the duration of the film. It is pretty hardcore and some people would not understand the gravity of it. I found it to be earnest, sad and depressing, very much the same way I found [i]The Hours [/i]to be.[/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]On friday, we braved the numb-butt syndrome to see the much-hyped-3-hour-Oliver-Stone-opus [i]Alexander[/i]. The good thing about it was it was better than [i]Troy. [/i]Beth and Sarah (my little Ancient Cultures buffs) were geeking out all over the place, and it was fun. Beth said that it was pretty true to what she studied in her various Humanities courses. [/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]Angelina Jolie looked absoultely gorgeous as Olympias, Alexander's snake-charming mom; but her accent seemed to derive from the Kate Beckinsale school of accents (see also [i]Van Helsing[/i]). Colin Farrell was Irish, Val Kilmer tried to be Irish and then just turned into Val Kilmer, Anthony Hopkins was a very British Ptolemy and served as narrator to piece together the epic story. All and all there was no continuity in the accents, but whatever.[/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]I suppose I respected this film more because it didn't "clean-up" history and myths or sugar-coat it for modern society like [i]Troy [/i]did. Let's just face it--[i]Troy [/i]basically obliterated the canon of [i]The Iliad[/i]. What I mean by this is in [i]Troy, [/i]they added a vestal virgin named Briseis for Brad Pitt to love on and made Patroclus Achilles's cousin instead of his lover. I mean, society was different back then and men having both many wives and male lovers was not uncommon--anyone who has read any ancient literature or taken any History or Humanities classes in college would know this.[/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]At the same time, I think a mountain has been made out of a mole hill. [i]Alexander[/i] has no real "love-scenes" between Alexander (Colin Farrell) and Hephaistion (a very pretty and eyelinered Jared Leto), yet there was a very prolonged complete female nudity scene with Rosario Dawson on her and Alexander's wedding night. All Jared Leto and Colin Farrell do is talk about how much they love each other and compare themselves to Achilles and Patroclus, they don't even kiss. Yet, you don't hear anyone bitching about how Colin Farrell was still wearing his pants while he and a completely nude Rosario Dawson hissed at each other and then roughed each other up.[/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]Finally, I saw [i]Finding Neverland [/i]on saturday night. I love Johnny Depp's cheekbones and his acting ability. He's superb. It was a beautiful movie. The costumes, the story and Kate Winslet--everything was wonderful. Last but not least, Freddie Highmore, who played Peter Llewellyn Davies--Kate Winslet's extremely serious young son. The kid broke my heart. I am very happy that he was cast as Charlie Bucket with Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka in the upcoming [i]Charlie and the Chocolate Factory[/i]. They have such a great rapport together that I think it will be great.[/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]Kate Winslet is a wonderful actress and I love to watch her films. I believe her, I buy her character in most of the films in which she has appeared. She, like Johnny Depp, is the saving grace of some of the most questionable films (hmm..[i]The Life of David Gale [/i]comes to mind) and has never ceased to amaze me since I first saw her in [i]Heavenly Creatures [/i]and [i]Sense and Sensibillity[/i]. If she doesn't get nominated for an Oscar for this film or [i]Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [/i], it would be a travesty.[/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]I'm not sure how true or historically accurate the film is, but it makes for a lovely story nevertheless. And Johnny Depp is the man. God Bless him![/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]I'll be back with my long-awaited review of U2's new album![/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]Cheers![/font].

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]Courtney[/font].