Merchant of Venice
Last night Carly and I watched William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. She had to watch the film for work--it's one of the ones that she is currently promoting--while I was able to watch it by virtue of being home at the time. The Merchant of Venice isn't one of the Shakespearean plays that I knew much about, and I had half expected to get bored by the film halfway through, or perhaps switch to reading while giving it a few glances over the top of my book. (Some film adaptations of Shakespeare make me ... twitchy.) So imagine my surprise when I found that I was not only enjoying it, but was totally absorbed.
My strength isn't in analyzing films; yet I can say that it was very beautiful and very dark, and that it left me feeling very conflicted. Happy and yet wanting to weep at the same time. Excellent acting.
I'm told that it'll be in theatres on January 21 (handy, that, being able to call into the next room and find out such information), and I think it'll be worth your time. And if anyone local wants to go see it--yes, I'd like to see it again. (If nothing else, the theatre versions won't have PROPERTY OF SONY PICTURES CLASSICS popping up on the screen every twenty minutes or so.)
Posted by Karina Sumner-Smith at 9:59 PM
3 Comments:
I have often the same reaction to "Bill" I attend out of duty and then after my ear gets attuned to the heightened language I am gripped. There is a truth to the relationships that transcends time and culture.
Who do you like most in Sc Fi who can do this too?
Hi Rob!
I know what you mean about the sound of the language; I found that whenever I tried to write *anything* last night, it came out oddly. Not Shakespearean, by any means, but not exactly like I usually write, either.
In terms of an SF writer who does this, I'd have to say Kelly Link. She's one of my favourite authors, and my favourite short fiction author, period. This is really saying something, as when I first read a few of her stories I hated them. I didn't understand it, the rhythm of her words threw me off ... and yet I couldn't stop reading. A friend of mine has since said that one has to learn how to read Kelly Link just as one has to learn to read modern poetry.
Sometimes, though, when I find my own writing is stuck in a rut, I'll just read a random page or two of one of Kelly's stories. It's like a jolt of energy.
There's some info on her first collection of short fiction here--and I hear that her second collection will be coming out this summer. Much anticipated!
By 
Karina Sumner-Smith, at
5:51 PM
I will give her a whirl. Women are digging into the genre. My current favourite is Julie Czernada. I find her view of cultural cross species differences is endlessly interesting.
Is there something also going on in Canada? So many good writers. I also enjoy Robert Sawyer.
The writer that I am most impressed with at the moment is Neal Stephenson. I have just finished his 3 volume prequel to Cryptonomicon. Apart from the wonderful 30 page digressions, I love the way that he gets at the foundations of our world - money, science and world-view
