When first I saw the posters for the movie THE HOURS, I said that Nicole Kidman will be nominated for several awards on the basis of her accent and putting on a fake nose. Sometimes it sucks to be right.
The movie centers around three self-indulgent, spoiled, emotionally unstable women who sigh every three to four minutes while pondering suicide. Cheery, huh? Why the movie was not called THE SIGHING, or HEY LOOK AT MY FAKE NOSE AND IGNORE MY BAD ACTING, or simply, JUST KILL YOURSELF ALREADY, I can only imagine had to do with the 13 hour plus running time.
First, a note about the music. The film is scored by minimalist composer, Phillip Glass. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy listening to the same three notes played over and over again on a synthesizer. I find it relaxing, when at home, to put on a Phillip Glass CD and stare into the barrel of a loaded gun while pondering the meaninglessness of existence. However, during the movie I kept wondering when one of the characters was going to say, open a closet door, and find Phillip Glass playing the organ and bludgeon him to death with her shoe. Unfortunately, it never happened. Instead these poor 3 women were forced to have every moment of their lives accompanied by the same relentless repetition of notes. Frankly, I can't blame them for wanting to kill themselves. Anything to make the music stop.
The only way to have a scene between Merryl Streep and Richard Harris not work, would be to have a bad script. Not just a bad script, but a truly awful, phony, wannabe-artsy, pseudo-intellectual, piece of pretentious Hollywood garbage. The theme of the movie, I think, was `Sometimes people have to die in order that other people can appreciate their lives'. The only reason I know that is that Nicole Kidman, I mean, Virginia Wolfe, said that. Talk about pasted on. THE PIANIST, on the other hand, illustrated its themes without ever having to come out and say them. And Adrien Brody's nose is real.
In summary, THE HOURS, is a story about 3 bourgeois women, living in different time-frames, who are in good health and have everything they could possibly want or need. However, because `happiness' is impermanent and momentary, they become depressed and ruin it for everyone else. This movie is clearly the work of a sadist. If you or someone you love are considering seeing this movie, please, don't do it. It may not seem like it at the time, but there are always other options.
The movie centers around three self-indulgent, spoiled, emotionally unstable women who sigh every three to four minutes while pondering suicide. Cheery, huh? Why the movie was not called THE SIGHING, or HEY LOOK AT MY FAKE NOSE AND IGNORE MY BAD ACTING, or simply, JUST KILL YOURSELF ALREADY, I can only imagine had to do with the 13 hour plus running time.
First, a note about the music. The film is scored by minimalist composer, Phillip Glass. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy listening to the same three notes played over and over again on a synthesizer. I find it relaxing, when at home, to put on a Phillip Glass CD and stare into the barrel of a loaded gun while pondering the meaninglessness of existence. However, during the movie I kept wondering when one of the characters was going to say, open a closet door, and find Phillip Glass playing the organ and bludgeon him to death with her shoe. Unfortunately, it never happened. Instead these poor 3 women were forced to have every moment of their lives accompanied by the same relentless repetition of notes. Frankly, I can't blame them for wanting to kill themselves. Anything to make the music stop.
The only way to have a scene between Merryl Streep and Richard Harris not work, would be to have a bad script. Not just a bad script, but a truly awful, phony, wannabe-artsy, pseudo-intellectual, piece of pretentious Hollywood garbage. The theme of the movie, I think, was `Sometimes people have to die in order that other people can appreciate their lives'. The only reason I know that is that Nicole Kidman, I mean, Virginia Wolfe, said that. Talk about pasted on. THE PIANIST, on the other hand, illustrated its themes without ever having to come out and say them. And Adrien Brody's nose is real.
In summary, THE HOURS, is a story about 3 bourgeois women, living in different time-frames, who are in good health and have everything they could possibly want or need. However, because `happiness' is impermanent and momentary, they become depressed and ruin it for everyone else. This movie is clearly the work of a sadist. If you or someone you love are considering seeing this movie, please, don't do it. It may not seem like it at the time, but there are always other options.