Wednesday, December 01, 2004

For Peat's Sake

Hmm, well, December could well be tragic for those of you who like their Parallax View updates to be as hot and as fast as your dream partner, as they're much likelier to be slower and less reliable than the Hammers' defence. But at least I can start the festive month off with generous portions of Holly: Holly Hunter, that is, who I saw at Wyndhams Theatre on Saturday in her British stage debut in a version of Marina Carr's By The Bog Of Cats.

In a vague update of a Greek tragedy, Hunter played a traveller-type being evicted from her home on an Ireland bog by her ex-partner on the eve of his wedding to the daughter of a scheming landowner. Hunter looked in pretty good shape, credibly sustained her Irish accent throughout and gave a strong central performance that threatened to dwarf her co-stars. The first half of the play was talky and so-so, but things got interesting after the intermission which included a drunken wedding, Hunter wandering throughout in a diaphanous dress and a predictably violent and messy climax. Good to see Holly in the flesh, then: but a slight shame she came over here for a part greater than the whole.

Then went on to see The Incredibles, to see whether the role of Elastigirl provided more of a stretch for our Texan miss, in Pixar's latest full-frontal assault on our hearts and wallets. And in a film packed with fun moments, Hunter arguably has the best scene of them all when her character mulitasks her way through dealing with numerous villains in three different rooms while trapped between doors. It may not be the most politically correct toon in town, but it was fast, colourful, loud, funny and inventively violent in equal measure: I loved it.

Also caught My Summer Of Love in which a teenage redhead seeks distraction from her born-again Christian brother and his god-fearing chums by embarking on a relationship with a posh girl on summer vacation from college. The film was commendably brief, contained some fine naturalistic acting from a cast of (mostly) unknowns and with Goldfrapp on the soundtrack, it was a cracking little movie which worked well within its limitations but will find it's natural home on the small screen (and, being funded by the BBC, this is likely to be sooner rather than later).

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