Orlando [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of Orlando [VHS]
Movie Review: Part man, part woman, all good
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an amazing, ironic film, based upon Virginia Woolf's whimsically mock-serious epic about an immortal English lord, who experiences 400 years of history, changes his sex to that of a woman after refusing to participate in warfare (a feminist point that is subtly made), and never bores or condescends to us. What surprised me when I first saw it is how dry, boring and pompous it isn't; the film has a nice lightness and dry humor that make it digestible. The photography is beautiful and the film never drags, and the performances, which a lot of critics have suggested are somewhat two-dimensional, are that way for a reason: Orlando's adventure is too awesome to be rendered realistically; the people and adventures she experiences are meant, I think, to be represented symbolically---each character is actually a rough composite of perhaps hundreds of such types she meets in her journey from 1600 to 2000. Billy Zane, who is seen in the movie's poster, plays an American adventurer who romances the female Orlando, but to all of his "Titanic" fans, a word of caution: he's in the film for roughly twenty-five minutes, if that much. The real star of the show is the ethereally lovely, brilliant, and mysterious Tilda Swinton, whose male Orlando is unnervingly convincing; so much so that "he" almost seems to be doing a drag bit once the sex change happens---and because Swinton is so eye-pleasing and delightful, this is not a bad thing. Her intelligence and talent radiate from her face, which is so expressive that many shots consist simply of gigantic closeups of it---she can say more with a gaze than many lesser performers do with a page of dialogue. I first saw this film in 1993, as an exchange student living in London, and it gave me an appreciation for British history and for Woolf's books that I had never had before. It's really quite a smart, funny, cool, hip movie, but with no explosions, car chases, or hot-button themes, it's by no means a populist-type entertainment. If you like period films, or anything English, you'll dig this a lot: Orlando isn't just English, he/she *is* England, and the country should be so lucky as to be compared with Tilda Swinton's long-suffering (centuries of it, in fact, what a burden) poetry-spouting nobleman/woman. Very cool.Movie Review: Sign of the Times
Summary: 5 Stars
While Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando' was found, by some readers, to be both long-winded and unbelievable, the movie version is, as a whole, a satire of the novel. The director has taken liberties galore with the original tale (Jimmy Sommerville as a disco queen obviously never figured in the original draft) but despite that, 'Orlando' turns out to be one of the better book-to-film adaptations I have seen, and as much as I hate to say it, I found it to be even better than the book. The novel lacked a certain life, and though Woolf did her best to enliven things up (the latter half of the work was dreary and pointless), Sally Potter, the director, strings things in such a fashion, that the end of the film is a) nothing like the book and b) lifts the movie to higher heights. We owe the way this film works to Tilda Swinton of course, the English actress who made a stunning impression with this film and then left us high and dry by shunning mainstream production altogether.Other reviews will tell you what 'Orlando' is all about. What I wanted to dwell on are the qualities of the film that make it outstanding. There are noticeable flaws, of course, because the movie doesnt flow together as a consolidated piece. It is broken and jarring in places - a collection of amusing vignettes strung together - but at the end of two hours, 'Orlando' comes together unlike many a film of its genre. For a film of this sort to make an impact on the audience, it must first goad the audience into leaving their sense of probability behind. Orlando's most defining moment comes when he lies himself down and arises a woman - breasts and all. I know not of any person in modern history who has altered their sex simply by will, and hence could not accept this shift in gender totally, yet this is one of the most gripping sequences in the film. Its also relieving because Tilda Swinton can finally play herself and get rid of that phony masculine accent.
Orlando still lives, according to the movie, so that would make him/her about 420 years old at the moment. The focus of the film is not so much the years that Orlando lives through, but rather the lessons she learns along the way. Why, for instance, did the Lord Orlando decide to 'become' a woman? Was this of his own choosing? Orlando's bitter experiences with war and death make him question his own masculinity, or one would suppose, as it is just after this that he changes his sex. But both as a man and as a woman, Orlando faces rejection. As a man, he is spurned by a Russian ambassodress, and as a woman, she involves herself in a torrid affair (with some of the most thoughtful dialogue) with Billy Zane, and he leaves her for America almost immediately. Pregnant, and doomed to be a 'spinster', Orlando survives World War I and II and is left with child when the film ends. This is all grossly improbable, but it works.
Tilda Swinton's direct camera glances are at first amusing, but I suppose they do add a sort of artistic touch to the proceedings. The final moments of the film benefit hugely from Tilda's beatific gaze, assuring the film of instant classic status, and making 'Orlando' one of the most thoughtful transgender films ever made. This is art.
Movie Review: A landmark of the 90s
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, I've never been able to finish Virginia Woolf's high-camp novel, with its uneasy attempt to blend love letter and politicosexual analysis, but that doesn't matter. I saw "Orlando" in the cinema when it first came out and it was one of the few films around that made me feel glad to be alive.Negative criticism of Tilda Swinton's cool performance is beside the point. Her calm and control is perfect; Orlando has to go from being a naive boy to a mature woman, and by the end of the film, even though Swinton has hardly broken a sweat, her long stare into the camera makes her seem truly iconic. It's one of the best film performances of the 90s. But Swinton has been too striking and unnerving an actor to ever be a big star, even if she wants to be, which seems unlikely.
Woolf's "Orlando" strikes me as overwritten and silly. Potter's "Orlando" is glorious, with some hilariously exaggerated costume design (from Sandy Powell, who cut her teeth with the even more left-field Derek Jarman), gorgeous music and striking performances from, amongst others, Billy Zane as Orlando's dashing lover and Heathcote Williams as a snide, money-hungry poet. It's an essay in contemporary sexuality, which almost makes me appreciate the music of Jimmy Somerville.
I can't think of many more haunting moments than the last five minutes; essays could be written on Orlando's Gaze. Swinton spends much of the film looking at people, searching for clues, trying to take it all in; by the end she seems to found it, and made it her own, and this is why her impassive stare and slight smile are so moving. I'm biased cause I'm a fan.
Movie Review: A charming farce of androgynous exploration....
Summary: 4 Stars
First let it be said that while I love the film Orlando it is simply impossible to get all the themes and events of the novel into one movie, so I strongly urge all viewers, whether they loved or hated this movie, to read the book, Virginia Woolf's unique love letter to Vita Sackville-West.The inevitable failings involved in translating a book into a film aside, 'Orlando' is visually exsquisite, the costumes and locations sumptuous and splendid, fully evoking the decadance and contrasting squalor of the centuries in which Orlando lives his/her life. The score perfectly compliments the surroundings, the atmosphere and the themes of each scene, and is beautifully composed and performed.
Though some have expressed doubts over Tilda Swinton's ability to play Orlando, the aristocrat born as man who turns into a woman half way through his/her life, I thought she was the perfect choice. I believe knowing she is a woman initially taints people's ability to find her convincing as a man; to me she played the part with great charm, amiability and empathy, and became even more charming as a woman - the character of Orlando at this stage in 'her' life becoming more rounded, more sympathetic, more knowledgable and Swinton captures that well.
This film does not follow the 'rules' of the 'real' world - besides changing genders, Orlando lives for 400 years and does not age a day. It is the story of a pursuit for life, for meaning, by one individual determined to discover what that means. Accept it, and enjoy.
In its attempt to capture the most important of the book's events the film does have a slight recurring bump in continuity, it seems, and will no doubt be pretentious and boring to some, if not many. Nonetheless, Orlando is a sometimes humorous, sometimes haunting movie, thought provoking and richly realised.
Movie Review: A Journey through History
Summary: 4 Stars
This film has a few things going for it. 1)Tilda Swinton-She manages to be believable as a man as well as a women and I love her direct glances into the camera. 2)The story-It may not have enough plot for some but I love the story- a person goes through 400 years of English history and changes sexes. 3)The Music- I love the last song by Jimmie Sommerville and the piano pieces are wonderful. This is not a film for everyone. Only watch it if you have a sese of humor that looks for subtlety or you have a sense of adventure.