Thursday

The Young Victoria

I wonder how many of us - especially non-Britons, or non-historians - were totally oblivious to the youth of the great Queen Victoria; didn't know that she was a passionate woman, well capable of love, had an equally passionate German husband, and that together they had 9 children before he passed away of typhoid at the age of 42.

I was clueless. Be it because I dropped out of high-school too early, or they didn't make movies like that when I was younger. Movies that help you relate to the passions and plights of people who lived and loved more than a century ago, and whom we know remotely from pictures and older movies (like "The Little Princess"), but who once held a position that well deserved them the title of the most powerful woman in the world at their time...

Well, Martin Scorcese did an excellent job at arousing his audience's interest in such a spirit from the past who helped shape our present, and as far as Emily Blunt goes, it's hard to tell whether anyone could have ever done a better job at this role. She certainly did the job. Almost as if she had been much better suited for the 19th century than the 21st.

As for me, I feel enriched by the experience of "The Young Victoria," a tale of noble minds and spirits without whom this world might have been an even more woeful place. I guess we'll all find out someday to what degree we each made a difference and helped prevent greater evils from happening... or not.

Looking for Eric

"Looking for Eric" is probably not the type of movie to be enjoyed by those who usually prefer the smug, multi-million dollar Hollywood productions with perfectly styled faces and perfectly shallow plots.

It's the type of movie that resembles real life too well than to be liked by the junkies of the escapist media who wouldn't even dare considering being unplugged from the Matrix.

The nice slant about it is that it's got a touch of the supernatural about it, since things start happening in Postman Eric's life after having weed-induced hallucinations of his soccer idol Eric Cantona, that are just too good than to ascribe them all to mere hallucination.

Thus it becomes a story of forgiveness, overcoming fears and self-doubts, as well as seemingly insurmountable obstacles with a little help from one's friends, and makes - what may have potentially, on the surface, looked like a drag to have to sit through - an enjoyable experience made in Britain that makes many US-made loser-turns-winner tale pale in comparison.