TITANIC

ASIDE……….

I have seen the future of the Alien franchise and this is how it goes ….. After much talking and the promise of container-loads of cash, James Cameron agrees to write and direct one more Alien film providing he gets complete artistic control.  The complex negotiations go on for so long that Sigourney Weaver is too old to play the lead and only appears in a cameo role. Winnona Ryder is mashed to death in an unfortunate accident in the opening seconds of the movie. Kate Winslet is cast in the lead role as Ripley’s daughter (never mind she died in Aliens - death didn’t prevent Ripley coming back).  In contrast with Sigourney’s rather androgynous looks, Kate Winslet plays the role of the alien-slayer whilst still staying in touch with her feminine side. Cameron encourages her to play the glamour side up, teasing the audience into believing that she is too much of a girly to ever inherit Ripley’s macho persona. And then, just when we think it’s all over, Kate burst into kick-ass action, blasting the shit out of armies of alien nasties as well as some new super-queen alien even bigger and more frightening than we have ever seen before. Cameron’s risky strategy pays off and we all agree Kate Winslet is good enough to inherit the lead in future sequels. 

Oh yes, one more thing, H.R.Giger is officially invited back on the team. Remember you read it all here first and if you think it’s just an idle fantasy then go and see Titanic and watch Winslet battling through water-filled passageways, brandishing a huge axe, complete with stroboscopic effects. If you ask me Cameron is already having a dry run  (or should that be wet-run?).  One day…….

THE REVIEW

I really wasn’t looking forward to this. I nearly didn’t go. James Cameron is the man who has given us some of the greatest action films of the last few years and here he is trying to marry a frock movie with a huge effects movie whilst satisfying his corporate masters and getting the whole thing past the British censors with a 12 certificate.  I just knew it was going to be one huge disappointment.

I was wrong.

Mind you, I thought he really was going to blow it for the first 20minutes of the film when we got a reprise of the Abyss, old newsreels and more frocks and uncomfortable-looking suits than you could shake a stick at. But then something happened and suddenly it was three hours later and I was watching the credits convinced I had seen one of the really great films of the nineties. And it is a film of two halves (well two-thirds and one-third actually).  The main part of the film revolves around the romance between Kate Winslet’s rich young thing and Leonardo DeCaprio’s poor but worldly-wise drifter. The romance is beset with the problems of the class divide with Billy Zane as Winslet’s cruel fiancé and David Warner as his ruthless manservant plotting to stop the young lovers.  For me it was the class divide that drove much of the film, reminding me how strong the differences were at this point in history.  The picture of opulence and decadence of the upper classes contrasted with the relative poverty of the passengers in steerage was very striking. Obviously the villainy of the upper classes and the warmth and humanity of the lower classes is exaggerated for dramatic effect but you forgive this because it does drive the plot so effectively and gives you characters to both identify with and to root for.

The last third of the film is where the effects start to kick in and they do not disappoint in the slightest.  James Cameron knows how to destroy a big set more effectively than anyone else in Hollywood and considering this is the most expensive film ever made (until the next one) you get to see where the money went.  Even though he shamelessly exploits the sentimentality of it all by dwelling on the faces of young children and distraught parents he never loosens his grip on the tension and, if you have the slightest imagination, you will feel the terror of the situation.  When the ship splits and the rear section is lifted at ninety degrees to the sea before it plunges into the deeps you know that this is about as good as it gets. Because he has filled out his characters so fully in the early section of the film you are also constantly aware of their plight.  It thrilled me and it also caused me to shed a few tears, I don’t mind telling you.

Now I’m going to go a bit “Sight and Sound” on you so ignore this part if you like. Cameron is not usually thought of in terms of an auteur  but some of the scenes in this film are simply stunning – not the big set scenes but some of the single shots that are on screen only a few seconds but stay with you long after you have left the cinema.  To describe them would be to give too much away but a good example is a shot of a woman’s body in the water wrapped in a long dress with hair flowing about her, all backlit from light pouring through a huge glass dome that features in the film. I’m sorry but I’m going to have to sound completely pretentious and say it was like looking at a pre-Raphaelite painting.  In other places, such as a body disappearing into the blackness of the sea or the hellish sight of men sweating in the confines of the boiler room as they shovel coal, he has the eye of a painter. And that is what is so great about this film. It is conceived and executed as an exercise in pure film where the plot drives the story but at every turn he has used the camera. The characters look ravishing, the reconstruction of the ship is convincing and every ounce of the filmmaker’s art is used to outstanding effect. Arty directors waste acres of interview space telling you how clever they have been in their visual references. Cameron just does without the fanfares because he knows it is part of his craft.

So, I liked it then. Put aside your prejudices and go and see it too.

SUPPLEMENTARY CULTURAL NOTES AND ALTERNATIVE VIEWS

I went to see Titanic with my partner the Warrior Mouse, my stepdaughter the Princess Lizardess and my mother-in-law, the Grand and Ancient Lizardess. The Princess L liked the film too.
The Grand and Ancient thought it was too long.  Warrior Mouse was quite rude about the film saying it sent her to sleep, the love story was overblown and boring and the effects were no better than others she had seen. Weird eh? But this prompts me to comment on a couple of other aspects of our different experiences.

Firstly, Warrior Mouse likes frock films whereas I usually avoid them like the plague. It could be that the romantic theme of Titanic is banal and uninteresting if you see lots of frock films. It just seemed fresh and moving to me because I am not a connoisseur of such material. Could be the case.

Secondly I was shocked to hear WM say that she thought Kate Winslet was “too hefty” for the part. A male critic whose name I forget (not one of our team) got into trouble in the press for making a similar comment and rightly so as far as I’m concerned.  I’m no advert for PC-ness, as these pages will no doubt reveal, but I am genuinely shocked by this idea that women must look anorexic to be acceptable to both men and women. Personally I hate to see these stick-insect women in films and magazines and I don’t think I am unusual in this respect. Kate Winslet looked great and she was perfect for the part.  

PS WM and Princess L tell me that Billy Zane looks very tasty. I’ll take their word for it.

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