A Writer's Perspective

My pal and fellow JU Dolphin Harley Ferris (a published poet and all-around knowledge-aficionado) recently shared his thoughts about the new Sherlock Holmes movie on Facebook. Because he is a friend and I love him to death, I'm stealing it and posting it here to share his always insightful perspective. I present Harley Ferris in "Holmes, Sweet Holmes":

...or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Film

I approached the new Sherlock Holmes film with trepidation. Gabi and I love the Holmes mythos. Admittedly, I’ve only read a few of the actual stories, so most of our love comes from the teleplays and movies. Basil Rathbone is brilliant, Jeremy Brett is inspired, Matt Frewer is, well, Max Headroom, unfortunately, and will always be so. Still, we love Robert Downey, Jr., and I was eager to see what he would do. The main concern I had from the previews was that Holmes seemed emotional, irrational, and most-grievously, dependent on Watson for rescuing. So last night, we plunked down our money and gave it a go.

The first thing that struck me was just how enjoyable it was. If you’ve seen other Guy Ritchie movies—even that BMW commercial with Clive Owen and Madonna—you know he stylizes everything he does with a certain flair, and the Holmes movie was no different. The fight scenes were reminiscent of Brad Pitt’s boxing matches in Snatch, and Ritchie actually used the technique to illumine the character of Holmes. The set design was terrific, revealing the dirty sky and filthy back streets of turn-of-the-century London. Costuming seemed to take a few liberties, though not so much as the new BBC Robin Hood (sorry, it’s not Robin of the Hoodie).

As to the character of Holmes, specifically regarding his weaknesses, the trailers skew his frailty a bit. From the previews, I was expecting a womanizing, depraved, hotheaded Holmes that needed Watson’s calm, calculating caretaking to prevail. This is hardly the case. I would daresay Jude Law is my favorite Watson. He is certainly the most capable partner to Holmes, and partner he is. Far from the bumbling idiot Watson of Nigel Bruce, Law is more than the oft-portrayed assistant, nearly matching Holmes step for step and proving invaluable more than once. Additionally, rather than a token heroin addiction, Downey shows a Holmes that descends into near-madness when his mind is not wrapped around a case, depicted by a range of symptoms. But most surprisingly, mainly because he actually pulls it off, Downey delivers the most human Holmes to date, in my opinion.

When detective stories first appeared, the reader sat back and watched Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Ellery Queen or Hercule Poirot solve crimes with dazzling intellect, boundless knowledge and sly intuition. Over time, however, crimesolvers became less and less the unmatched wit and the reader/audience was invited into the mystery to participate in hunting down the villain. My opinion is that as culture changes, stories evolve, and the heroes of the past adapt to accommodate contemporary society. How, then, does one present the loved character of Sherlock Holmes in a way that not only delights but also endears? I think Ritchie & Co. pull it off nicely by keeping Holmes a step ahead of the audience, just barely in front of the baddies, coming out on top at the end of day. He is smart, strong and funny, but fallible. Watson is helpful, stoic, courageous, yet endearing. The movie’s execution is masterful, and the last ten minutes set up Sherlock Holmes 2 without any question. Will purists add it to the canon? Never. Will it revive the other incarnations of Holmes to young moviegoers? Possibly. Will you enjoy it? Probably. Will it be on my shelf when the DVD hits stores? Elementary.

Bollywood for Beginners: Om Shanti Om

The following is a review of a Bollywood film, a component of Indian Cinema. Bollywood is the mainstream, musically-oriented, film genre in India. It is not confuse-able with the grittier, more realist Bengali or Malayalam cinemas. Wikipedia's entry concerning: Bollywood.

Om Shanti Om

I've titled this series "Bollywood for Beginners" because, frankly, that's what I am, a beginner to Bollywood. I had seen a grand total of one Bollywood film (Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke, more on this to come) before watching Om Shanti Om. Despite my limited exposure, I understand three things about Bollywood:

1. Bollywood films are long (generally 3+ hours).
2. Bollywood films succeed (in India) according to the strength of theirs songs and choreography.
3. Bollywood films contain no (or possibly very little) kissing, no sex, and no love story ending any other way than a traditional marriage (in order to appeal across the wholly diversified, yet generally conservative continent).

Om Shanti Om, in many ways, is a great introductory-to-intermediate course on Bollywood. This intriguing flick certainly defies the genre's temptations: linear story-line, useless and off-track dance sequences (well, maybe just one), and overly simple characters.

That being said, the film is far from genre-shattering. Its ending, in many ways, is nothing surprising, and several times during the course of the film's 2 hours and 42 minutes, contrived or over-used plot devices seem to shove the story into the next dance scene.

Still, the story features the fine acting of Shahrukh Khan, the 41st most powerful person in the world (that's more powerful than Oprah, according to Newsweek), fun and catchy songs, a good sense of humor about itself, and a story line that most viewers would not be able to predict (not even 30 minutes in, dad).

Why is this film good for beginners? Well, it's actually good for serious beginners to Bollywood -- beginners ready and willing to dive head first into Bollywood cinema. Om Shanti Om is renowned for its cameos. It's a movie about the Bollywood industry (at times poking a lot of fun at the industry, too), so it has cameos from over 40 well-known Bollywood stars (including a ridiculous and almost-laborious dance scene in which 30 cameos occur consecutively). This is valuable to the serious Bollywood beginner, because this is a chance to learn some faces, to enjoy seeing Amitabh Bachchan, his son Abhishek Bachchan, and action hero Akshay Kumar. It is rare that four leading males appear in a single movie, so this is helpful in starting to remember the chiseled jaws and manly brows of Bollywood, as well some of the dazzling faces of Bollywood's lead females (Priyanka Chopra and Vidya Balan, to name a few).

I am compelled to also warn viewers to exercise caution when watching this film with the kids. Beyond the the possibly heavy themes of murder and reincarnation, the film also includes several dance scenes with scantily clad subcontinent-ers.

Netflix Priority: Middle of the queue. Go ahead and bump it up in front of Die Hard 2.