“Wow I really procrastinate A LOT when I’ve got a write up to do. Been sitting here catching up on Failbook for the past hour. Maybe it’s a good thing that I only got one instead of two to do. See, the original plan was that I was supposta get back to Boston late last night, sleep in today, then hit a double at the Kendall. However, United/Continental Airlines had other ideas. Had a 5 PM flight from Laredo to Houston, an hour connection, then a 7:20 flight from Houston to Boston. But apparently the plane I was supposta get on at LRD was comin’ from IAH, and they didnt have a crew. It finally left Houston at about 5, getting into Laredo at 6. We took off at 6:45 (half an hour after we should have arrived, and when my connection was supposta board). Even though the Boston flight was delayed, I got there too late, and it was the last one out. Soooo I spent the night in Houston (which thankfully they paid for) and caught an early flight in. That meant I only had time for one flick. But since I was able to hit all of my other pending movies at home last week, I can just catch The Artist tomorrow. Today was A Dangerous Method.
I kinda stutter in my head anytime I think the title of this movie. My brain keeps wanting to add in an adjective (I wanted to sound smart and look up the type of adjective, but I can’t afford more than a 20 second Wikipedia spiral): A Most Dangerous Method or A Very Dangerous Method. Guess I just keep thinking of The Most Dangerous Game.
Grammar aside, it was the cast that drew me to this one, particularly Michael Fassbender. If not for him, I dont think this would have been high on my list, though I do love Viggo Mortensen and Kiera Knightly. I did find the subject matter interesting as well. While Im not familiar with the specifics of Jung and Freud, mental health and psych is a subject that very much intrigues me. I feel that could have been a field I may have gone into, perhaps if I considered it earlier (and got over my determination that doctor is the one thing I knew I never wanted to be). So as far as subject matter, the first half of the movie fascinated me. I loved seeing the theories at work as Fassbender’s Jung worked with Knightly’s crazy woman Sabina. But after a while, the story just got kinda boring. We moved past the clinical and got more into the relationships, but it all seemed kinda superficial I guess (maybe that’s not the word, but it’s the best I got at the moment).
On the acting side, Fassbender did not disappoint. I found it interesting that this is out at the same time as Shame since he’s attacking similar subject matter from opposite sides. Complete opposite performance as well. Much more controlled, less intensity, but still captivating as ever. I cannot say how excited I am to see where this man’s career grows. Just think, a year ago when hearing his name in relation to X-Men, I just thought of him as that Basterd whose lines I remember but face I dont quite recall. Kiera Knightly also delivered a fantastic performance, although some of her crazy lady tics annoyed me (please stop me from saying something overly rude about her underbite), her accent was impressive as was her commitment to the role. She’s another one that keeps getting better and better over time.
So it was a decent way to start the new year. Not quite the big bang to kick it off I would have hoped for, but a good start nonetheless
A Dangerous Method – \m/ \m/ \m/