'Merlin the magician helps Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.'
I have two memories of watching (or partly watching) 1981's Excalibur. The first, when my brother rented a VHS copy in the late 80's. I was about 11 or 12 and found it incredibly boring. I didn't stick around after about the first 20 minutes or so, I think I went upstairs and watched Full House. Clearly, my cinematic tastes had not been fully activated....
Ten or fifteen years later, it's the early 2000's, and during a 'movie night', someone brought Excalibur, claiming it's their favorite movie ever, and we simply must watch it.... I didn't, well, not much of it. This time I did however notice Lancelot, (Nicolas Clay) and knew who Helen Mirren was, but didn't enjoy it anymore than my first attempted viewing.
I stayed through the entire film this time, but mostly talked to the others on the couch, barely watching, except of course when Lancelot was naked in the woods. I still don't quite get the film, I want to try another viewing, but fear a third repeat experience. So much of the film, like Lancelot's nude scene, is edited in an odd dream like fashion that I find hard to engage with. Maybe now that I'm older, I'll have the patience, but sort of think my patience, may actually be even less forgiving.
I did go back and watch the section featuring Clay's nudity for this piece, and found it as frustrating as the first time. Although a naked Clay, wrestling with a armored Clay is appealing, it's but a brief few seconds. I can assure you of one thing, the promo stills for the love scene, show much more than the film itself, in fact they appear staged to make the love scene seem more... well, just more, than it appeared in the film.
No comments:
Post a Comment