Beowulf!!! ( with a brief sidetrack into Macbeth...)

I saw two movies this week, the first with my friend Jen, at home. I acquired it quite by accident, darn late nights and Amazon, but I now feel, well , my life would not be complete without it. It was a 2006 version of Macbeth, my personal favourite of Shakespeare's plays. This version was, well, Catastrophically Wonderful.

Only way to describe it. Think Macbeth as an Australian drug war against kung fu Asians, with the three Witches as young red haired school girls , all with the purest of Shakespearean language done with Australian accents, and the occasional tits ( in case you get bored, )

It must be seen to be believed. And we will not, CAN not go into the clothes. Again, must be seen to be believed. Just goes to show what you can ( or can't ) do with 4 weeks and 4 million dollars. See it. But don't do it alone.





At the other end of the film experience, we have last nights movie, on the big screen, in digital 3D. Beowulf. Magic. Wonderful. Amazing. Funny. Scary. You have heroes, maidens, drunkards, villains, monsters, and Grendel's Mother ( my personal new idol)

I loved it. Every minute of it. Sure, there were one or two things one could get picky about, but who the heck cares? This is a new Hero. Or an Old Hero. The best Hero. This was brilliant storytelling. Storytelling at it's best.

I think it is something to take a story like this, the earliest known example of English Poetry, something most of us have read, or at least known the story of, and bring it to life, as it never could have been brought to life before, or perhaps, that HASN'T been brought to life this way since, oh , say the 7th or 8th century.

How many people did it take to bring this together, and how long??? I don't know exactly, a LOT is a good guess. And it took a long time to do it, I know this as it has been kicking around my work days for some years. I was, to say the least, impressed. And I thought I knew what was coming.

It is an amazing thing to see a movie you have long known about in the abstract come to life on the big screen, and in SUCH a new, never before done way. ( it is even a more amazing feeling to see ones name at the credits at the end. Stay for them. Cheer loudly. My friends and I did. In front of all the people left. Which, uh, was the guy cleaning up. He was impressed, I am sure of it. I acted quite the Diva for at LEAST ten minutes. )



Beowulf is a Hero. No doubt about it. But are Hero's all good? Or Demons all Bad? ( I am not so sure Grendel's Mother didn't have a point. ) And like all great stories, it asks questions that no one can exactly answer.

This movie will be in my head for a long time. In the very best part of my head, where all the dreams are. And all the stories live.

To quote one of my favourite lines:

" Give him a silver piece and let him go home. He has a Story to tell. "

Love and Heroes,
Lorraine