Tonight we saw the Tilda Swinton-produced film Io Sono L'Amore. We loved it and spent the drive to the restaurant, the dinner, and the drive back discussing it. Let me start by first pointing out that this is not a film that may be quickly watched, filed somewhere, and consequently forgotten. It tends to have the kind of effect that a truly rich tiramisu has: it'll unequivocally beg for attention from all of your senses and organs post-consumption. The film is steeped in literary traditions stemming from Sophocles while contemporaneously being bathed in rich visual imagery.
At the core of the film lies the deeply intimate relationship between Emma and her son who adores her completely, Edoardo. To be able to truly decode this beautiful relationship one needs to be able to truly get the relationship between Jocasta and Oedipus. This film offers a kind of visual feast that is truly overpowering to the senses. From the bold colors of Swinton's wardrobe to the gorgeous architecture and arts that the city of Milan has to offer, the list of aesthetic contributions goes on and on.
This film varies from others when it comes to the candid way in which it deals with familial dynamics, sibling rivalry, the discussion of a love lost between two long-term spouses, gender and identity, birthing one's self anew, attaching to new love, marriage, art appropriation and ownership, et al. Ah, and, naturalmente, there is the theme of the importance of the culinary arts and how they epitomize such basic human drives as sensuality, instinct, the pampering of one's taste buds and so forth.
In sum, did I like this film? Absolutely. I felt the way I tend to feel when at the Seattle Art Museum. Well fed. And if you love Europe and linguistic diversity, this film will most certainly not disappoint.
Brava, Tilda, brava!
Showing posts with label Tilda Swinton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tilda Swinton. Show all posts
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Tilda Swinton
As I was reading the news this morning I noticed a piece on NPR on Tilda Swinton's new feature I Am Love and it prompted me to think two things: 1) this is exactly the kind of film I would like to see now and 2) Swinton is so fabulously talented, Orlando anyone?
I cannot think of many artists who can transform themselves with as much seeming ease as Swinton. In Virgina Woolf's-informed Orlando, she plays a man who transforms over the course of time into a woman and the audience almost forgets that it's not simply viewing a feature film but that it's absorbing Woolf's lengthy novel, instead. She goes from portraying a working suburban mom in Thumbsucker to a mysterious character in The Limits of Control with a kind of ease that is bound to mesmerize one.
Swinton is the kind of talent that is strong enough to save less-than-mediocre and mediocre films. Films like The Beach, Constantine, and Burn After Reading were a let-down overall but the bits that feature Swinton make one forget the overall disappointment of the piece. And that is what a talented performer can do.
A bit from the recent NPR profile of Swinton reads: "For me," she says, "transformation is inevitable. That's what I find really fascinating about life, and I have since I was really very small. And I'm always interested when people fantasize that they can deny that it exists, or that they can have any control over it, or that change might be a choice. Change is the only thing we have, it seems to me, and it's with us all the time."
If you have not seen many of her features, I recommend that you visit her filmography at some point in time. You won't be disappointed. Below, see some of the many faces of Swinton's characters.
I cannot think of many artists who can transform themselves with as much seeming ease as Swinton. In Virgina Woolf's-informed Orlando, she plays a man who transforms over the course of time into a woman and the audience almost forgets that it's not simply viewing a feature film but that it's absorbing Woolf's lengthy novel, instead. She goes from portraying a working suburban mom in Thumbsucker to a mysterious character in The Limits of Control with a kind of ease that is bound to mesmerize one.
Swinton is the kind of talent that is strong enough to save less-than-mediocre and mediocre films. Films like The Beach, Constantine, and Burn After Reading were a let-down overall but the bits that feature Swinton make one forget the overall disappointment of the piece. And that is what a talented performer can do.
A bit from the recent NPR profile of Swinton reads: "For me," she says, "transformation is inevitable. That's what I find really fascinating about life, and I have since I was really very small. And I'm always interested when people fantasize that they can deny that it exists, or that they can have any control over it, or that change might be a choice. Change is the only thing we have, it seems to me, and it's with us all the time."
If you have not seen many of her features, I recommend that you visit her filmography at some point in time. You won't be disappointed. Below, see some of the many faces of Swinton's characters.
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