Saturday, July 9, 2011

4. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) 8/10

Photobucket

George, who is out somewhere there in the dark, who is good to me - whom I revile, who can keep learning the games we play as quickly as I can change them. Who can make me happy and I do not wish to be happy. Yes, I do wish to be happy. George and Martha: Sad, sad, sad. Whom I will not forgive for having come to rest; for having seen me and having said: yes, this will do.

Quality - 4/5
Enjoyability - 4/5

The first movie in history to be nominated for an Oscar in every category it was eligible.  The movie only has two actors and two actresses and all were nominated for Oscars (Elizabeth Taylor and Sandy Dennis both won, but it probably should have been all four).  This movie seriously has the best straight-up acting I have ever seen on stage or screen.  The entire film is comprised of a single night of drunken fighting, storytelling, yelling, and crying.  That may not sound too entertaining, but the actors involved transcend a normal argument and turn it into something closely resembling art.  The viewer is forced to decide which parts of the story or true during George and Martha's "games" (as they call them), but it becomes quickly apparent that the separation between truth and illusion really doesn't matter.  The movie was adapted from a play which was adapted from a book.  While I don't really have much desire to read it, I can't imagine what these scenes would feel like live.  The raw power of the emotions would be hard to dodge without the tangible fourth wall of the television screen.

No comments:

Post a Comment