Reread Bartleby today in anticipation of watching the movie later this week. Enjoyed it immensely; it's quite a good story, even though I can't understand half of it, 'cos Melville doesn't give us a speck of insight into Bartleby's thought processes, and also makes you wonder how much of the narrator's ramblings about his own motivations are really truly true and how much of them are him lying to himself (or us). Anyway, I can't wait to watch the movie now, as I'm convinced more than ever that the casting of Crispin as Bartleby couldn't be more perfect. It's the most inspired casting since . . . since Emma Thompson in the HBO adaptation of W;t.
Here's my question for the day: What's up with Crispin and characters - Bartleby, Willard, George, and so on - who seem like they really just need a nice hug? Not that I object, and there's no actor I can think of who can project adorable huggability more relentlessly than Crispin can when he wants to, but he just seems to end up playing more or less the same character over and over. There might be varying degrees of passivity, sanity, homicidal tendencies, et cetera, but overall it seems like he's pretty much been playing George McFly for twenty years (even in the pre-BttF Friday the 13th flick - Jimmy is pretty much what would happen if young!George was outgoing instead of withdrawn). This might be part of why I find the Charlie's Angels flicks so appealing - it's very cool to see him in such a drastically different role. In conclusion, damn typecasting all to hell. He's talented and committed - name me one movie where he gives less than one hundred percent to his role, no matter how insignificant it may be. That's right. You can't do it. How come the good actors so rarely get the good work? In further conclusion, I love Crispin. And I hope my copy of Bartleby gets here really, really soon. I guess in the meantime I'll have to content myself with Movie Gallery's ancient copy of BttF. Which I rented yet again. I really need to just buy the damn DVD trilogy set already.
And to think I doubted I'd manage to post more than three sentences today.
Here's my question for the day: What's up with Crispin and characters - Bartleby, Willard, George, and so on - who seem like they really just need a nice hug? Not that I object, and there's no actor I can think of who can project adorable huggability more relentlessly than Crispin can when he wants to, but he just seems to end up playing more or less the same character over and over. There might be varying degrees of passivity, sanity, homicidal tendencies, et cetera, but overall it seems like he's pretty much been playing George McFly for twenty years (even in the pre-BttF Friday the 13th flick - Jimmy is pretty much what would happen if young!George was outgoing instead of withdrawn). This might be part of why I find the Charlie's Angels flicks so appealing - it's very cool to see him in such a drastically different role. In conclusion, damn typecasting all to hell. He's talented and committed - name me one movie where he gives less than one hundred percent to his role, no matter how insignificant it may be. That's right. You can't do it. How come the good actors so rarely get the good work? In further conclusion, I love Crispin. And I hope my copy of Bartleby gets here really, really soon. I guess in the meantime I'll have to content myself with Movie Gallery's ancient copy of BttF. Which I rented yet again. I really need to just buy the damn DVD trilogy set already.
And to think I doubted I'd manage to post more than three sentences today.
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