乡间一月

I finally received the dvd after almost two weeks of axious waiting. First thing was to change my DVD's region code, which was a little frustrating as it left only three chances of region resetting in the future. But can bear with it after being determined to buy a region free player anyway.

AMITC begins with Tom Birkin's nightmare of trench and his heading to the country in the rain, which gives it a somewhat depressing and sad tone to start with. The movie then carries away in a languid pace telling a story about recovering from the WWI in a summer of Northern England. The faith in God had been undermined by the cruel war, but the process of restoring a mural also gradually restored Tom's life. Colin's opposite Kenneth Branagh is the seemingly carefree James Moon who also suffered from his pain, and at last both of them regained the courage after the one month in the country. Weather turns better and so does life, doesn't it? :) Actually the movie tells so much of which I only figured out a tiny portion. For example, what Tom's tic on the train tries to tell the audiences? Was he nervous? and why? Why sometimes Tom stammered and sometimes didn't? Why did the rector/vicar dislike the revealing of mural? Was he scared? How come Tom and Alice Keach didn't say what they meant to say at the good-bye? Why Tom didn't answer Kathy Ellerbeck's call after Alice left? What is the reason of showing old Tom revisiting the mural at Tom's leaving? What does the apple stand for? etc, etc. I have to watch it again to get in touch with the essence and probably more than one rewatch are necessary. Love Colin in this kind of complex roles, where he performs upon multiple layers and isn't watsting his acting talent.

I used to think Colin's accent wasn't very easy to understand as he sometimes talked fast and softly (kind of under his breath) but his lines here are much clearer than those of the village residents, especially of the two kids. To me the biggest disappointment of this DVD is its lack of a subtitle and a featurette. AMITC IMHO is a very subtle movie and deserves extreme attentiveness. I would dearly like an English subtitle exhibiting the nuance of dialogues and a featurette setting up the background. Maybe checking out the book would be a good idea?

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updates: I'm reading the book but what frustrates me most is I still can't understand the very first dialogue from the old man on the train even when the exact words appear on the book! "Thoo's ga-ing ti git rare an' soaaked reet doon ti thi skin, maister" - I guess it's "there's going to get rare and soaked right down to the skin, mister" but don't know what "get rare" means. Probably I got the first half wrong?

Gosh, without the proper cultural context, it's really hard! But the author seems to be an amiable witty and humorous old gentle man, reminding me of Mr Qian Zhong Shu.

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