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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 407713" data-attributes="member: 23"><p style="text-align: center"><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">Prick Up Your Ears</span></strong> (1987)</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww2.bfi.org.uk%2Fsites%2Fbfi.org.uk%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Ffull%2Fpublic%2Fimage%2Fprick-up-your-ears-1987-013-poster-bfi-00m-k2c_0.jpg%3Fitok%3DKs9mnCpe&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=dbbabc2f2d22e3505a106fccc4663b81630edfdc457506ff2d5980a3b4049e34&ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>It's probably the better part of two decades since I last watched this, but with it being mentioned in the Eighties thread (and possibly fitting into another round in the near future), I felt it was time for a revisit.</p><p></p><p>While I'm familiar with the story, I'd forgotten a lot of the detail, even down to the people involved in producing it. This time round it struck me as interesting firstly that an actor played John Lahr in a film adapted from the biopic written by Lahr (it serves both as an adaption of the biopic and as a film about the writing of it), and secondly that the screenplay to the adaption was done not by Lahr but by Alan Bennett. There are wonderful little Bennettisms scattered throughout that make the wry dialogue so memorable. One of my favourites was a woman marvelling about the gentrification of her locality: "there are two antiques shops and the pub serves salad".</p><p></p><p>Also of note, since I watched it just days ago, the director is Stephen Frears who had previously directed <em>My Beautiful Laundrette</em>.</p><p></p><p>I'm not especially well-versed with Joe Orton's life, knowing him primarily from the numerous references to him in Kenneth Williams's diaries and letters, and - of course - from the tragic murder-suicide which ended the lives of Joe and his partner Kenneth Halliwell. Because of this it's difficult to say how accurate the minutiae in this film is. It does come across as fairly balanced, though. It's certainly not a rose-coloured glasses approach and leans into being more salacious than sanitised. Joe doesn't always come across in a flattering light, and it's even heavily implied his celebrated career was built by taking credit for someone else's work. All the same, Gary Oldman's portrayal gets past the cruelty, self-promotion and hedonism to show someone who is also engaging, charismatic and funny. He certainly captures an overconfident, satyr-like sexualised energy that I suspect Orton had by the bucketload. Watching this, it's easy to believe he deserved his success and reputation no matter where the truth lies.</p><p></p><p>This time round I really felt sympathy for Kenneth Halliwell, who seems to have been treated very poorly and had his partner's promiscuity flaunted while he's thrown very little. And adding insult to injury, he feels he receives no credit for his part in Joe's success, and seems to be barely tolerated -and often openly disliked - by Joe's coterie of friends and hangers on. Alfred Molina brings a vulnerability and sadness to Halliwell, but the writing also shows a wit and fast mind that would have make him attractive to Orton. If this is to believed, he thrives when delivering bitchy repartee, frequently turning it on himself.</p><p></p><p>Vanessa Redgrave does great things with the part Maggie Smith turned down, hiding Joe's diaries from publishers and providing a lurid, detailed of Joe's first sexual encounter in a public toilet over dinner before complimenting the melon to the hostess in the same breath. Shamefully, I don't believe I've even seen many of her performances, so that might have to be rectified at some point before death.</p><p></p><p>Julie Walters has a small-but-memorable part as Orton's mother, forever losing her dentures, while Joan Sanderson has tiny-but-sporting turn as John Lahr's mother-in-law who is asked to decipher Joe's shorthand accounts and read them aloud in crisp received pronunciation:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Overall, it's a much more entertaining film than I remember. It's also a reminder to me to check out the film adaptions of<em> Entertaining Mr Sloane </em>and<em> Loot. </em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 407713, member: 23"] [CENTER][B][SIZE=6]Prick Up Your Ears[/SIZE][/B] (1987) [IMG]https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww2.bfi.org.uk%2Fsites%2Fbfi.org.uk%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Ffull%2Fpublic%2Fimage%2Fprick-up-your-ears-1987-013-poster-bfi-00m-k2c_0.jpg%3Fitok%3DKs9mnCpe&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=dbbabc2f2d22e3505a106fccc4663b81630edfdc457506ff2d5980a3b4049e34&ipo=images[/IMG][/CENTER] It's probably the better part of two decades since I last watched this, but with it being mentioned in the Eighties thread (and possibly fitting into another round in the near future), I felt it was time for a revisit. While I'm familiar with the story, I'd forgotten a lot of the detail, even down to the people involved in producing it. This time round it struck me as interesting firstly that an actor played John Lahr in a film adapted from the biopic written by Lahr (it serves both as an adaption of the biopic and as a film about the writing of it), and secondly that the screenplay to the adaption was done not by Lahr but by Alan Bennett. There are wonderful little Bennettisms scattered throughout that make the wry dialogue so memorable. One of my favourites was a woman marvelling about the gentrification of her locality: "there are two antiques shops and the pub serves salad". Also of note, since I watched it just days ago, the director is Stephen Frears who had previously directed [I]My Beautiful Laundrette[/I]. I'm not especially well-versed with Joe Orton's life, knowing him primarily from the numerous references to him in Kenneth Williams's diaries and letters, and - of course - from the tragic murder-suicide which ended the lives of Joe and his partner Kenneth Halliwell. Because of this it's difficult to say how accurate the minutiae in this film is. It does come across as fairly balanced, though. It's certainly not a rose-coloured glasses approach and leans into being more salacious than sanitised. Joe doesn't always come across in a flattering light, and it's even heavily implied his celebrated career was built by taking credit for someone else's work. All the same, Gary Oldman's portrayal gets past the cruelty, self-promotion and hedonism to show someone who is also engaging, charismatic and funny. He certainly captures an overconfident, satyr-like sexualised energy that I suspect Orton had by the bucketload. Watching this, it's easy to believe he deserved his success and reputation no matter where the truth lies. This time round I really felt sympathy for Kenneth Halliwell, who seems to have been treated very poorly and had his partner's promiscuity flaunted while he's thrown very little. And adding insult to injury, he feels he receives no credit for his part in Joe's success, and seems to be barely tolerated -and often openly disliked - by Joe's coterie of friends and hangers on. Alfred Molina brings a vulnerability and sadness to Halliwell, but the writing also shows a wit and fast mind that would have make him attractive to Orton. If this is to believed, he thrives when delivering bitchy repartee, frequently turning it on himself. Vanessa Redgrave does great things with the part Maggie Smith turned down, hiding Joe's diaries from publishers and providing a lurid, detailed of Joe's first sexual encounter in a public toilet over dinner before complimenting the melon to the hostess in the same breath. Shamefully, I don't believe I've even seen many of her performances, so that might have to be rectified at some point before death. Julie Walters has a small-but-memorable part as Orton's mother, forever losing her dentures, while Joan Sanderson has tiny-but-sporting turn as John Lahr's mother-in-law who is asked to decipher Joe's shorthand accounts and read them aloud in crisp received pronunciation: Overall, it's a much more entertaining film than I remember. It's also a reminder to me to check out the film adaptions of[I] Entertaining Mr Sloane [/I]and[I] Loot. [/I] [/QUOTE]
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