Wah, what a long break we are having; it’s a week off work if one takes Friday and Monday as leaves. Since I am without agenda this time, my yesterday and today were spent on watching and re-watching Robert Altman’s Gosford Park VCD, which I bought during a trip in Hong Kong 4 years ago which by the way, I still do not know whether legal or pirated. The packaging and the VCD's quality are convincingly original but it cost me equiv RM10 only, - what da ya think? It was a title that I was looking hi and lo for in Malaysia at that time, so when I saw it in Hong Kong, I grabbed it. But the Chinese sub-titles irk me every time.
I have actually watched this video twice before, but this time, with surplus free time, I looked up the internet to research the movie. I joined the discussion board on IMDB website, looked up for Ebert’s review and downloaded the script to make sense what the mostly British cast are saying.
It’s a story set in 1930’s that takes place over 1 week or so at a grand manor in the English countryside with a murder thrown in, in the middle of the story. The cast is comprised of two sets of people; the upstairs people i.e. the aristocrats and the guests, and the downstairs people i.e. the servants. I don’t know how to summarize the storyline, because there are so many characters and sub-stories, so I just say this. It’s a movie that you cannot blink, because you chance to miss a gesture. Many times I have to press the replay button to see what all the characters in that frame are doing. All in all, it is a very well made movie.
Do you know that the Americans and the British have different pronunciation for the word “valet”?
Ah, I also stumbled upon this website http://www.gutenberg.org/ which hosts millions of e-books that you can download for FREE. And Frank McCourt’s favourite author P.G.Wodehouse’s works are listed. Yay! I know I’ll be as busy as a bee tomorrow.
1 comment:
...and how are they pronounced, those 'pandu-letak' kereta person?
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