Film

We have been feeling very classic film-deprived and in the last two weekends were very happy to tap into a collection of great films from Laurie and Josep, and others, that we hadn't yet had time to see. We watched Divorce, Italian style, with Marcello Mastroianni somehow looking nauseating (a testimony to his acting range), and Lina Wertmueller's Seven Beauties. Both very satisfying farces, the second in particular quite black and quite brilliant.

The kids, meanwhile, have been watching more of The Jungle Book (or The Jungle Movie, Eliot keeps correcting me). I knew it would be cheaper just to buy Jungle Book II, so they have seen it through several times now. It kills me. The Jungle Book is my favourite Disney film: no princesses; slow-paced with extended, atmospheric scenes; delicate, painterly drawing and backdrops; whimsical animation; great songs. The long scene of Mowgli walking silently and alone through the jungle captures the joy of the movement of a small boy and is one of my favourite animated sequences ever. None of these virtues, except, perhaps, the princesslessness, made it through to JBII. That aesthetic is not one that Pixar is going for either; animation of that almost numinous quality is now in the hands of Studio Ghibli.

Interesting tidbit from wikipedia: our household favourite Bill Peet wrote the first screenplay for Jungle Book, but it was judged too dark (ie. too close to Kipling); he ended up leaving the studio. Some of the song writers were required not to have read the original book at all.