Still not Mary Renault, but I'll take what I can get.

[amanuensis1]

I meant to mention this: I did actually get myself a copy of the, what, nineteenth cut?, of the film Alexander, this one called Alexander Revisited, and annoying as the prospect was to have to endure a so-so film three separate times just to look for the manlove--I was pleasantly surprised. I don't think Alexander is ever going to be better than a so-so movie, but this three-and-a-half-hour version was the best one, offering some actual characters instead of "names walking through events," which is the impression the shorter cuts gave me. By restoring a lot of the talk to the talky scenes, Stone won a little more depth, a little more honest motivation for his characters; there was a feel of a mini-series at work. It engaged me quite a bit more. And I'm not just saying this because Bagoas got lines this time. (You'll either hate or love his accent.) So if you were thinking of hunting down one of the DVDs out of curiosity, do make it this version.

Comments

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

*buys with one-click*

I'd read a review of that somewhere and had been intending to check it out. :-D

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*suddenly all self-conscious that people are actually taking self's word* I hope you don't hate it! ^_^

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

LOL! I read a review of this new version in Vibe a few weeks ago, and it was highly recommended there. I hadn't bought the DVD earlier because it got such bad reviews, but this version seemed much more promising. I'd forgotten about it until I saw your rec, with a convenient link to Amazon. :-D

[sirryluv.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. I'm not going to be able to convince myself to not buy this just beacuse Bagoas got lines this time. Damn. C'est la vie!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

You know what? If you need it just so that you can have all the scenes with Bagoas that existed but were cut, it is totally worth the price of buyin' it. ^_^ I sure thought so!

[fabularasa.livejournal.com]

That raises an interesting question. Perhaps miniserieses (miniseria?) is what Stone ought to have been making all this while. His ego is just too large to cram inside a small screen, is all.

I can't make myself not hate Bagoas. I have tried. He irritates the piss out of me.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yes, you said that you have a hard time sympathising with characters who embrace their slavery! Is that most of it, or is it something completely other?

[fabularasa.livejournal.com]

Well, the irritating bikini-dancing is another part. And the Parade of Subness was not psychologically interesting to me. Also -- and while I'm not proud of this, one cannot control one's instinctive reactions -- I wanted to grab Bagoas by the shoulders, slap him around and scream STOP BEING SUCH A GIRL!! Just because you lost your nuts doesn't mean you can't borrow a set of balls, ya know.

So yeah, irritation.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I suspect that if the only exposure to Bagoas I had had was onscreen in Alexander, my reaction to him might be similarly irritated. "Bagoas, you bitch." But I know you read or at least partly read The Persian Boy but he still didn't win you over as he did me. Oh well!

[fabularasa.livejournal.com]

No, I haven't seen the movie, but I did read The Persian Boy, of course I did! You commanded it. It is lovely writing, you are absolutely right about that. And I don't think I would have minded an Irritating Narrator except that the author so plainly did not regard him as irritating, and in fact expected the readers to see him as a reliable and even interesting narrator. And when you're working in first person, that is the danger - if you fail to sell on the narrator, the whole thing is a wash. I was interested in Bagoas until he met up with Alexander and began acting like a lovesick sorority girl. Excuse me, a lovesick stripper in a gold bikini.

[twigged.livejournal.com]

I walked out of the theatre I was so disappointed, but I think I went in with too high expectations. Possibly I'll like this extended version now that my expectations are so low!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

There's all the Bagoas that was ever filmed, I think, in this version! Maybe that's something? ^_^

[christwise.livejournal.com]

Haha yes! I freaked when I saw this film. It's so much better. Not only are there more shots of Bagoas (zoom in on the kiss WEEEEEE!) but there are all these shots of Hephaestion looking stricken. Awww.

On a related note I wrote a paper on Alexander for my noir class. Haha! (/giddy)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

You ICON! Heeeeeee!! BTW, aren't you annoyed by the way they un-gayed that particular line in the film?

[christwise.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have more. "This icon shags Persian eunuchs" "This icon too is Alexander" and "In its womb this icon created its avenger." I can upload if you want.

The way Anthony Hopkins says it.... with such distaste. It squicked me out and I should have been lapping it up... so to speak.

I love Oliver Stone's commentary on the theatrical dvd. He talks about Jared Leto's eyes and, when they're hugging before the violent sex scene he giggles and says "what can I say? This isn't Braveheart." <3

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

"This icon too is Alexander"

*cracks up* You're killin' me.

I may never get to the commentary track; I rarely do. Too much else to watch and read and stuff.

[(Anonymous)]

Could you possibly be swayed to write some Alexander fic after seeing the newest version? Maybe some Hephiastion angst? You write angst so well and there is a severe lack of decent Alexander fic.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Thank you for asking, and thanks for the lovely compliment! I don't know if I will write Alexander fic; my first intro to him was through The Persian Boy and I'm more likely to write something featuring him if I do. But who knows!