Thanks for letting me get off ungracefully today on the phone, hon -- I really did have to contact a very stupid professor (grr) who only keeps certain office hours.
I... okay, I know this sounds odd, but... I don't think I'll ever see it.
I'm sure it's amazing. I really am. Especially after reading your review. (I look forward to more on it!)
But the book itself was so intense, so painful and wonderful and inescapable... it was one of the most tangible reads of my life. But I deliberately read it out of order, put it down for days and came back to it only when I felt calm. Despite all this, it was still such a visceral experience.
I honestly don't know how being in a movie theater, unable to break free of the narrative spell, with no recourse to remind myself that it's all fiction, all a story -- held hostage to all that emotion -- would affect me. I might walk out in the middle just to feel sane.
Does that sound crazy? Well.
So I might not see it. Or I might wait until it's being four-walled at the local art cinema and go by myself so that, if it does break me a little, there'll only be a handful of uninterested strangers in the rows in front of me present for it.
I don't ever want to stop talking about this movie...it's just...
But yes, I completely understand. the movie is such an emotional assault. I was literally shaking afterwards, and that scene where he goes to sleep in Dunkirk? I think Mr. Mousie's arm has bruises.
I too read the book over a number of days and all out of order, and having to stop regularly because I couldn't take it in all at once: it was too intense and even with that I could barely cope (that, and the language was so gorgeous I wanted to savor every word).
And there are certain parts I never reread.
Also, I never thought you could have a visual scene to get across the sheer 'beauty' of the way the encounter in the library is written, but the movie pulled it off.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 12:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 06:23 am (UTC)Thanks for letting me get off ungracefully today on the phone, hon -- I really did have to contact a very stupid professor (grr) who only keeps certain office hours.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 07:00 am (UTC)Summary: it's amazing.
I am all for seeing it again so let me know if you are interested. It's playing in Bethesda.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 07:23 am (UTC)I'm sure it's amazing. I really am. Especially after reading your review. (I look forward to more on it!)
But the book itself was so intense, so painful and wonderful and inescapable... it was one of the most tangible reads of my life. But I deliberately read it out of order, put it down for days and came back to it only when I felt calm. Despite all this, it was still such a visceral experience.
I honestly don't know how being in a movie theater, unable to break free of the narrative spell, with no recourse to remind myself that it's all fiction, all a story -- held hostage to all that emotion -- would affect me. I might walk out in the middle just to feel sane.
Does that sound crazy? Well.
So I might not see it. Or I might wait until it's being four-walled at the local art cinema and go by myself so that, if it does break me a little, there'll only be a handful of uninterested strangers in the rows in front of me present for it.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-08 07:42 am (UTC)But yes, I completely understand. the movie is such an emotional assault. I was literally shaking afterwards, and that scene where he goes to sleep in Dunkirk? I think Mr. Mousie's arm has bruises.
I too read the book over a number of days and all out of order, and having to stop regularly because I couldn't take it in all at once: it was too intense and even with that I could barely cope (that, and the language was so gorgeous I wanted to savor every word).
And there are certain parts I never reread.
Also, I never thought you could have a visual scene to get across the sheer 'beauty' of the way the encounter in the library is written, but the movie pulled it off.