WCBE 90.5 FM: "Casanova," "Tristan & Isolde," "Breakfast on Pluto"

WCBE 90.5 FM
“Casanova,” “Tristan & Isolde,” “Breakfast on Pluto”
It’s Movie Time co-hosts, writers, producers:
John DeSando & Clay Lowe
For: WCBE 90.5 FM
Record Time: 1:30 pm, January 11, 2006
Air Time: 3:01 and 8:01 pm, January 13, 2006
Streaming Live on the web and “It’s Movie Time” on-demand at: www.wcbe.org

The Script

Clay

“Casanova” is a bedroom romp full of powdered whigs and one déspicable prig . . .

John

“Tristan & Isolde” post-modernizes the old cuckold lament . . .

Clay

“Breakfast on Pluto” has Neil Jordan gender-bending at his best . . .

HIT MUSIC THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle:

“It’s Movie Time” in central Ohio with John DeSando and Clay Lowe.’’

MUSIC UP THEN OUT

John

I’m John DeSando

Clay

And I’m Clay Lowe

HIT MUSIC FOR CASANOVA: “CORELLI VIOLIN SONATAS” (CUT 2 - VIVACE), THEN UNDER FOR:

John (“Casanova”)

Clay: The new Lasse Hallstrom film, Casanova, stars Brokeback heartbreak Heath Ledger in a rendition that ultimately “rehabilitates” the historical libertine into a seeker after the hand of just one woman, arch-feminist Francesca.

Clay

Sounds risky to me.

John (Continues)

Laced throughout are arguments about the place of women in the Enlightenment.  In a Shakespearean turn, Hallstrom has Francesca disguise herself as a man to win for Casanova at court and to sword fight the Inquisition buffoons at his side.

Few institutions of that era escape the film’s own sword, especially the Catholic Church, whether it be its condescension to women or its brutal Inquisition.   The music is a Baroque blend of such composers as Vivaldi, Albinoni, and Corelli.

Even the excessive disguises leading to numerous mistaken identities, so common in Restoration and 18th Century comedy but overdone here, cannot compromise a carefree comedy with love on its mind.

It is one of the best farces, regardless of period, to come out in years.

KEEP MUSIC UNDER CLAY (TRY TO BRING UP BRIEFLY THEN UNDER AGAIN)

Clay “Casanova”

Folks, no doubt the world could use a little more carefree comedy, but the world could also use more role models who are capable of instructing us in the arts of genuine passion. Here’s where Lasse Hallstrom’s Casanova falls wantonly short. More farceful than forceful, and more pretty than handsome, Heath Ledger plays Casanova as cool as can be, and that’s far, far too cool for someone like me.

Playing a laid back dude may have worked for him up on Brokeback Mountain [where his only competitors were the sheep], but down in the bawdy boudoirs of steamy Venice he needed to turn up the heat.

No doubt the pretty and giggly ladies in this movie’s cast found him naughty enough for them. And no doubt Hallstrom’s proto-feminist Francesca found him, already, too male and aggressive for her, but history is history, and Casanova was Casanov, folks, so why not just let it be.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

John (“Tristan & Isolde”)

If adultery is your interest, then add the new Tristan & Isolde to your library that probably includes King Arthur, Madame Bovary, and Bill Clinton.
Clay

I thought he didn’t have sex.

John (Continues)

The current film is low-level Wagner without the music, a fairly-faithful rendition of the classic story of a young hero, Tristan, asked by Cornwall’s King Mark to win the hand of the Irish king’s daughter, Isolde, for marriage.  Guess what happens!

Although James Franco’s Tristan is more underwear model than warrior and Sophia Miles more Bridget Jones than queen, the costumes, supporting cast, and sets are so good I’m tempted to give it an above average grade.  But then I remember a line like “With every look he gives you I get sicker and sicker,” and I get sick.

If you’ve just read the Tristan in your English lit course, this is the film for plot. If not, then see The Graduate again for a more pleasant dose of the scarlet A.

HIT MUSIC FOR “BREAKFAST ON PLUTO,” THEN UNDER FOR:

Clay (“Breakfast on Pluto”)

Well folks, Neil Jordan’s “Breakfast on Pluto” is not about scarlet letters nor bad scripts. It IS a delightfully told story about a small town boy from Ireland who heads to the big city of London to see if he can make it as a rather fetching cross-dressing boy-would-be-girl. Shades of Hedwig and his angry inch minus the botched operation.

Cillian Murphy is marvellous as the often vulnerable, and sometimes abused, young man who sets out, like David Copperfield-in-drag, to find his fortune (surprise, surprise) in this sometimes dangerously alien world.

Woven into the texture of this movie is Liam Neeson’s bewildered performance as the priest who originally takes in the young foundling boy, and then add in to the mix the strong performances of Jordan regulars, Stephen Rea and Brendan Gleeson, and you have one more minor masterpiece from the man who taught us how to both laugh and cry in “The Crying Game.”

Full of whimsey and great sixties and seventies music, “Breakfast on Pluto” is one of the better movies of the year that will probably escape having to endure the honor of receiving an Oscar.

But enough of swinging swordsmen, unfaithful lovers, and boy-girl wannabes, John, because it’s grading time.

John

Hooray!

HIT DRUMS, THEN UNDER FOR

John

“Casanova” earns a “B” for ITS BREATHTAKING BAROQUE BACKGROUND

Clay

“Casanova” gets a “C” because by CASTING off his passion he CASTOFF’S his reason to be . . .

John

“Tristan”  earns a “C” for its  sad  CASTING . . .

Clay

“Tristan & Isolde” gets a “D” because the cast DUMBS DOWN an otherwise beautiful movie . . .

And “Breakfast on Pluto” gets an “A” because Neil Jordan both ALLOWS and encourages our imaginations to run wild . . .

DRUMS OUT

John

Clay--

We hiked in Cornwall without seeing anyone who knew about the sad story of Tristan?  Do you think the Cornwalleans were just too absorbed in surviving their inhumanly steep coastal trail?

Clay

The waves were high, the cliffs were steep, but the memories of Cornwall are meant to keep. That’s why the famous Kneehigh Theatre from Cornwall will be staging Tristan at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston this coming spring.

I think I may go order my tickets right now, it’s gotta be better than the movie.

I'm outta here.

See you at the movies, folks.

HIT CLOSING MUSIC THEN
UNDER FOR:

Richelle:

The award winning “It’s Movie Time” is co-hosted, written, and now produced by John DeSando and Clay for WCBE 90.5.

MUSIC UP, THEN DOWN AND OUT

Copyright by John DeSando & Clay Lowe, 2006