AAR After Hours

No offense to anyone living south of Mexico, but here it is: To me, Christmas = Winter.  Christmas is at best, snow, and at the very worst, ugly brown grey slush and frost.  Christmas is cold.  Christmas is NOT flippin’ rhododendrons blooming and frangipanis flowering and fresh cranberries with the turkey.

It would be better, thought, if Hong Kong and New Zealand (where I spent the last two Christmases) could claim their own kind of Christmas, but they have transplanted the Winter Christmas to a summer climate.  And it’s jarring to see shop fronts decorated with snow tinsel, and windows floating with snowflakes, and icicle lights hanging from roofs.  It doesn’t work here; no wonder they don’t buy into it. Read the rest of this entry »

Emma is my least favourite of the Jane Austen novels because I have very little sympathy for the eponymous heroine.  That’s why I only ever watch the Gwyneth Paltrow (and Jeremy Northam) version – she doesn’t make Emma seem quite so spoiled or mean or egotistical.  Last time I’d seen the Kate Beckinsale one, I hated it.  But that was five years ago.  So when I saw the talk on the message boards about BBC’s new Emma with Romola Garai, it compelled me to revisit the 1996 Kate Beckinsale and see if maturity has wrought a different impression.

The Good

I still find Kate Beckinsale too petulant and her voice too whiny for personal taste, but she’s definitely not as bad as I remembered, and has some good moments; I particularly like the fantasy sequences, which ring true.  I also like Mrs. Elton and Jane Fairfax, whom I find more interesting and well-rounded than their movie counterparts.

The Bad

Frank Churchill, as portrayed here, is nothing less than a dawg.  (Although his hair is better than Ewan McGregor’s.)  As this version stands, my respect for Jane goes way down.  I haven’t read Emma in a long time so I don’t know how he’s portrayed in the book, but this Frank Churchill is a rat.

The Ugly

Disclaimer: I love love love Jeremy Northam.  Any other Mr. Knightley would have to be pretty damn good to even compete.  But I don’t find Mark Strong attractive AT ALL (and that’s a large part of it, right?  I mean, come on), and his acting is too overwrought for my taste.

So all in all, I’ll still stick with the movie.  There is no chance I won’t see the 2009 Emma, but I doubt any version of Emma would receive my whole-hearted approval (because of the titular heroine).  However, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam (sigh) come close.

- Jean AAR