Beowulf of the iron troop is a hardy individual, having taken quite a hefty kicking over the years courtesy of his sub-par portrayal across stage and screen. I think it’s fair to say that the King of the Geats is many things, but he is not a typecast French Highlander with the acrobatic skills of a Chinese tumbler (Beowulf 1999), nor is he a Spanish Arab surrounded by Fabio impersonators who has the ability to learn a foreign language merely by observing those around him (The 13th Warrior). His story should not be aggressively deconstructed and re-set in modern day London or the wild west for that matter. Beowulf is a noble, vain and bloodthirsty bastard from the sixth century who likes drinking real ale and gets a kick out of fucking-up monsters with his proto-Vulcan death grip. Fortunately though, for those who prefer an unapologetic Scandinavian Prince clad in rattling war shirt, ale-cup in hand, 2007 promises to be the year when the definitive re-telling of the story hacks its way into your local multiplex.
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Posted in Commentary, Movies •
The story about the genious and lethal perfumier Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was originally released in 1985, and since then Patrick Süskind’s novel Perfume: Story of a Murderer (original german title: Das Parfüm) has sold over 12 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 42 different languages. In 2001, german producer Bernd Eichinger (The Never Ending Story, The Name of the Rose, Downfall, Resident Evil, Fantastic Four) successfully acquired the rights to the film adaptation, which he subsequently laid into the hands of the talented german director Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run, Heaven). Together they managed to attach an array of international actors to the project, including Dustin Hoffman (as Guiseppe Baldini), Alan Rickman (as Antoine), Rachel Hurd-Wood (as Laure Richis; Hurd-Wood played Wendy in 2003’s Peter Pan) and UK born Ben Wishaw (as Grenouille; Wishaw might be known to some for his role as Sidney in Layer Cake).
The story is set in the south of France in mid 18th century. The boy Jean-Baptise Grenouille grows up in an orphanage after his mother is hanged for trying to dispose of her unwanted child. Jean-Baptiste can barely speak, but he is gifted with an extraordinary olfactory sense. At the age of thirteen he is sold to a tannery where he works under the harshest conditions, growing into a young man in the midst of stinking chloride-filled basins. During his first visit to Paris, he is attracted to a perfume sales woman. But because he cannot articulate himself, and because he feels disturbed by the passing people, he covers her mouth with his hands and unwantingly suffocates her. His initial sense of joy over smelling her lovely perfume is thus soon replaced by the realization that he cannot hold on to that scent. This premise leads to Grenouille’s gruesome quest of trying to create the irrisistable scent, by distilling the scent of living things and preserving it into an essence.
One of the major concerns over the film adaptation regards its ability to convey the importance of scents in the book onto the screen. Constantin Film has now released the first teaser trailer for the film which, in an adequately creepy fashion, captures the focus on smells quite impressively. You can judge for yourself by downloading the file via the following link:
Perfume: Story of a Murderer - Teaser Trailer (Quicktime, 5.8MB)
In addition to this, you can also view the first official movie still below (click on the image to load a bigger sized version):
Perfume: Story of a Murderer is scheduled to premiere in Germany in September later this year, from where it will expand to neighbouring European countries within the following two months. The film will likely start its global theatrical run by the end of the year.
Posted in Commentary, Movies •
Timothy Zahn is the Hugo Award winning author of over 20 novels and 70 short stories. He is probably best known for his Star Wars books which include the acclaimed Thrawn trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command) and Hand of Thrawn duology (Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future), two series set several years after the classic Star Wars films (though both written before the Star Wars Prequels were released). Heir to the Empire was the first book that truly continued the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia, and it also introduced new characters such as Grand Admiral Thrawn (who took over the reigns of the Empire following the demise of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader) and Joruus C’Baoth, the clone of a Jedi Master who went missing on an expedition to the Galaxy’s outer regions during the Clone Wars.
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Posted in Star Wars •
I prefer Obama to McCain. Now, McCain’s better than average for a Republican. And though his ads are intellectually offensive, he’s just bowing to his campaign masters and would calm down and be more sane once in office and not campaigning. But I have a few concerns with McCain on foreign policy. He’s not a full-fledged Neocon. That’s good. He opposed Reagan on Lebanon. Good. He was critical of Bush’s initial strategy in Iraq. That’s good. But there’s a problem. He thinks the Vietnam war was winnable and that the US shouldn’t have withdrawn. He’s also eager to spread democracy with force. This just isn’t a good set of beliefs for inheriting Iraq.