Let me paint a picture for you readers out there. It's 12:00am in the 'morning' and I've convinced myself rather prematurely that I will be going to sleep in the next 5 minutes. Then I switch on BBC1, and find this film RedEye, I normally don't like watching films on TV as I have such a short attention span when I watch TV and I just can't stay on one thing for more than 40 minutes. This film was ending anyway so i thought why not.The last 20 or so minutes of RedEye was simply put one of the best 20 minutes of film I've seen it years. One of the reasons I stayed on this film was because of Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy (Inception). It's a thriller where Rachel plays the daughter of a hotel manager who is kidnapped by a stranger on a flight in his attempt to assassinate a Government official. I sort of wish I joined the film earlier, but it was still really interesting and quite easy to follow. The last minutes of the film was her escape and the consequent chase and scramble to save the Government official and her father. The film as a whole probably wouldn't have been that interesting I imagine, but what I saw was so so entertaining. I wasn't at the edge of my seat, I got up and was fighting when she was fighting, running when she was running and dodging when she was dodging. It was madness, after it finished I was on a little high, I couldn't possibly go to sleep after all that!
After that I was on the search for another thriller that could have the same effect, I ran into Phonebooth with Colin Farrell. I'd seen it before but it's one of those films I think, I really like it so I can watch it again in patches. It's such a clever film, wasn't as thrilling as Red Eye but put in the right mindset to fall the final film of the night, Lolita, but more about that in a second. Every time I watch Phonebooth I always think that I could outsmart the psycho-killer, not sure how but I think I can. I swear every single film like this has the same voice for the psychotic killer. In between Phonebooth I browsed at a spanish film called Talk To Me, by the genius that brought us Volver (Penelope Cruz). It might have been good, but I didn't have the commitment to watch a film that relied on me reading subtitles.
Then came Lolita. Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is one of the finest and most celebrated novels over the last century; yet relatively unknown by the masses. Books like Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies are 'household names' but Lolita is more of an hidden treasure, especially here in the UK. That is unless you study Literature in University or in some sixth forms. The book is about a middle-aged man who marries his landlady because he's obsessed with her 12-year old daughter, which he later develops a sexual relationship with. Strangely I've never read the book, I always say I will but one I can never find it, and two the only novels I buy are often written by Chinese authors. The novel is controversial and revolutionary in the way it deals with sex and sexual temptations, it's definitely not a book that can be studied for GCSE which limits it's popularity I guess. I'd have loved to study it, way more interesting story and more things to talk about here.
The film is so sensitive in the way it deals with the book. The images are so delicate but the first half of the film presents Lolita as such a seductive girl, we are almost made to be attracted to her with her short skirts and provocative outfits. I think this is one of the most important elements of the film, your reaction to it. It tells you about yourself, how do you react to what happens? Who is the victim? Who is in control? These may seem obvious from what I've told you about the film - middle age man having sex with a 12 year old girl after her mum dies - but it's far more complex than that. Dominique Swain was 15 at the time of the shooting and she plays a 12 year old girl, so every time she had sex scenes with Jeremy Irons a pillow had to be placed between the two. How can an actor agree to such a role? Everyone must have been nervous and anxious on set, basically making porn with a 15 year old girl. In the 1962 film, half the scenes were deemed illegal and inappropriate and it was highly censored.
It's a film everyone has to see, it's a book everyone has to read, basically it's a story you have to absorb, to see your reactions. Like I swung throughout the film about who I thought was in the wrong. On the one hand as the adult her stepfather shouldn't do this, he should be in control, but this girl is messed up - she later uses sexual favours to get money and other things. For some of that film it seems she is in control. The twist at the end of the film is genius, where she becomes involved with another older man. The acting is phenomenal, especially Dominique Swain, it takes a very mature 15-year old to do a project like this, her parents must be very liberal. At times it was soft-core child porn, which isn't OK. Throughout the film, I was talking to a very good friend about it, so we constantly like trading ideas on the film, which added to the enjoyment of it.
From now on, I've decided that I'm going to call any girl I think is a slut, a Lolita. That's going to be a saying I use. Lolita is much worse than a slag, yes, but still. I ended up going to sleep at 3am, but it was worth it. Go see the film, or read the book. If anyone has seen it, let me know, be interesting to know what you think.
The novel is ranked #4 in the Modern Library's Best books of the 20th Century, to put it in perspective, Lord of the Flies is #41, Animal Farm is #31 and A Clockwork Orange is #65, tough crowd.
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