17th February, 2011.
You know, I’ve got to admit, there’s one thing I know that BBC series, Outcasts has managed to do.
You know, I’ve got to admit, there’s one thing I know that BBC series, Outcasts has managed to do.
APART from seriously split critical opinion, cause intense discussion amongst fans of TV sci-fi and become as divisive as Marmite* … ?
Well, means that the usual Tuesday night movie got missed, last week.
And shifted to last night, this week.
Not that I’m complaining, too much.
It meant the when Movie Night Adrian, Kevin D, Sarah and I all got together last night, we had a bit of catching to do: Sarah was keen to explain her thinking on a band she was in, Kevin to borrow my shower, and Adrian to …
Well …
Mostly be Adrian, and eat popcorn …
It also — also — got us all nattering about exactly which movie we should actually watch.
I know Kevin and I wasn’t impressed by a western that Adrian had picked up from Brentwood Library.
And I think all of us were a touch intimidated by the sheer length of Night Watch.
We did manage to settle on something, though.
The multi-Oscar winning, 1991, Jonathan Demme film, The Silence of the Lambs.
Notice I didn’t mention a genre in that sentence … ?
More on that, later …
•••••
Based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs sees trainee FBI agent, Clarice Starling — played by Jodie Foster in the second of her Oscar winning roles° — co-opted by Special Agent Jack Crawford — played by Scott Glenn — to run what he calls “… an interesting errand”.
Crawford is — ostensibly — overseeing the building of of the Bureau’s VICAP‡ criminal profile database, and wants Starling to interview the one they’ve not managed to get talking, just yet.
To quote Crawford and Starling’s exchange … ?
Crawford: The pyschiatrist, Hannibal Lecter.Starling: Hannibal the Cannibal …
Underscoring all this … ?
Crawford wants Ms Starling to deal with the figure that’s now such an icon, ever since that initial introduction …
Not that’s any urgency, of course …
•••••
Now …
You notice I didn’t mention the genre of The Silence of the Lambs, earlier … ?
That’s deliberate …
You see one thing I know that both Kevin, Adrian and I had noticed, over the years, was the simple amount of times that The Silence of the Lambs gets a mention in various ‘Top Horror’ type lists you see infesting movie magazines like Empire.
Whether that’s accurate is a whole other matter.
Speaking personally, though … ?
I think I can appreciate the reasoning behind that.
After all, why bother with the likes of Freddy, Jason, Michæl, et al, when the genuine article — especially when played with the Oscar winning conviction that earned Anthony Hopkins both the Oscar and the knighthood — can be so much more chillingª.
The Silence of the Lambs
★★★★
* Marmite’s anti-malarial properties are an urban myth, dating back to 1934/5. Apparently …
ª Just as a thought to ponder, here, though, about the evils that people do: in the original novel, Thomas Harris has Dr Lecter saying “I collect church collapses, recreationally. Did you see the recent one in Sicily? Marvelous! The facade fell on sixty-five grandmothers at a special mass. Was that evil? If so, who did it? If he’s up there, he just loves it, Officer Starling. Typhoid and swans - it all comes from the same place.”
° The other was for 1988 film, The Accused.
‡ Or at least, the film’s version of it.
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