Girl With A Pearl Earring
I saw Girl With a Pearl Earring Friday night. Critics have praised the film's beauty, and I think the praises are deserved, for the most part. But I can't help but nitpick a movie I just spent $9.25 to see:
- The setting is Holland, 1665, yet the characters all have British accents (and it's an American movie). I know it's a common trick to give all foreign people British accents in American movies, but it does seem silly.
- The foley artists went a little overboard with the minute sound effects. It sounded like the actors were wearing tap shoes.
- The film gets a little sloppy during the candle lit scenes. Either they pushed the film or used higher speed film for those parts. The shadows become grainier and grayer.
- Possibly related to the previous nit: the color balance/film characteristics changed somewhat between the outdoor and indoor scenes in a noticeable-yet-not-pronounced-enough-to-be-deliberate way. I don't know if it was Kendall Theater's copy or the original negative that looked a little off.
Those are my only nits, and they're very picky at that. I can't comment on the plot because I don't even know how much truth there is to the story. I know it's based on a novel by Tracy Chevalier. The plot isn't fleshed out very much; the film is more of a "character based" story -- which is to say, it's a chick flick. But that's alright. I liked it, overall (though unfortunately, I didn't have a chick to bring along to the flick).
I might see it again when it comes out on DVD but only to spend another 2 hours staring at Scarlett Johansson. Gaa-gaa.