Movie Details
| Title: | Lawrence of Arabia | |
| Director: | David Lean | |
| Year: | 1962 | |
| Genre: | War | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 09.12.09 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 09.12.09 | Paramount | Well... I've been holding off on commenting on this film because I'm kinda intimidated about participating in the conversation about this film. What can I add? I'll start with the real-life aspects of this screening. Years ago I read Ebert's Great Movies review of this film, where he concluded by noting that seeing this film on 70mm was on the short list of things that all film lovers needed to do in their lifetime. I'd never seen it, and ever since, it'd been something I've had in the back of my mind that I wanted to do. Early this summer, I saw that this film was the Paramount's final Summer Series movie, and that they'd be projecting in 70mm. So it's been marked on my calendar for months. But since it was a 2 p.m. screening, I figured I'd drive down, watch it, then drive back. But when I saw that Master Pancake would be doing Breakfast Club that same night, I figured I'd bring my wife down and make a weekend of it. She doesn't typically like super-long movies, so we planned on her checking into our hotel, taking a nap, shopping, and otherwise killing time while I watched LOA, and then we'd meet-up for Master Pancake. But it turns out that our hotel wasn't available for an early check-in when we got into town, and my wife decided on the spur of the moment to join me at the Paramount. I was very surprised, and glad to be able to share this film with her. We get to the Paramount and find a pretty good crowd already. We sat one row behind the maximum legroom row (for those that are familiar with the Paramount), bought a bottled water, and settled in for the next four hours. The Paramount started the show by playing several minutes from the score. I was surprised at how much of the score I recognized... I'm not sure where I heard it before... must be one of those things that just seeps into a movie geek's subconscious. And then the movie itself started, and... 70mm is an incredible experience. On the one hand, it's probably not as sharp as Blu-ray, but on the other, it's a more organic experience (no doubt a function of watching film instead of a disc). When compared to watching a well-projected 35mm film, it's like you've been wearing the same pair of glasses for years while your eyes got slightly worse, and finally upgraded your prescription. It's hard to explain, but I constantly found myself just... oogling... at the beauty of the images on the screen. I'll second Ebert (as if he needed it): see a movie (and this one in particular) in 70mm if you get the chance. The first half of the movie was incredibly fun. Peter O'Toole is an unconventional action hero (from a visual standpoint at least), but he quickly fills the role. The movie is paced slower than a summer blockbuster, but has enough adrenaline to tide over most any filmgoer. This first half ends on a note that... if you didn't know better... could be the end of the film itself. I loved it. We then hit intermission. I went upstairs, where they had a costume display from various older movies (Gone With the Wind is the only I can remember right now). There was also a guy talking to the crown who did make-up for Lawrence of Arabia. The only story I heard him tell was how the first scene they shot was Lawrence trying on the Arab garb. Lean's direction to him apparently was "improvise," and O'Toole responded by doing all the twirls and spins. Then it was time to head back to the seats, and just before the movie started, I briefly (for the second time) met @moiseschiu, who was also at the screening. Then the second half hit, and man... it just got more and more depressing. O'Toole devolves (believably) into madness/brokenness, everyone we're supposed to root for does wholly unlikeable acts, and the ending of the movie is anti-climactic in the extreme. It's a glorious piece of filmmaking... a real punch to the gut. So, yeah... I loved this movie (my wife did too). I own this on DVD, and I'm curious about revisiting it later on. I'm glad I didn't watch it for the first time at home... I'd have been too tempted to watch it in pieces. But now that I've seen it as a whole, I think it'd be ok to watch the movie in chunks. A week later and I'm still kinda buzzed from seeing this movie. Great stuff. |