| Thursday, September 29, 2005 |
 | Friday was spent very agreeably in the opening section of C.'s festivities. Dinner at Questo, which made the deadly mistake of offering an all-you-can-eat option. The fools. I may never eat elsewhere again, until they are reduced to penury and I have the belly of an otter.
Then, rolling gently onward to see Howl's Moving Castle at the Curzon Soho. Many have praised Billy Crystal's performance as Calcifer, and I have to admit that I was both surprised and impressed - I had no idea he even spoke Japanese.
But seriously, folks. I would like to see the English-language version of this also, although I am not sure that the decision to cast Gene Simmons as the older Sophie seems to me to be a bit adventurous, a little... avant-garde.
Anyway, I liked it very well, and quite forgot fairly early on that it was a foreign-language film, not least because of the turn-of-the-century Englishness of so much of the scenery. Which is interesting - something which I liked very much about the book which does not translate is the way the characters are very aware that they are operating in a fairy tale narrative, and have to get round that using wit and a degree of stroppiness.
Which does lead to my complaint. Although the world in which it happened is full of terrifying engines of war, Howl is generally, one quality tantrum aside, too calm, too kind and too gentle. C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas... Felt more like a sort of youth-team Chrestomanci at times. Awfully pretty, though. In fact, the entire world was beautiful, although very different from the Wynne Jones vision - giant, semi-organic battleships sailing through the air, one-man ornithopters buzzing over Market Chipping and lots of lovely militaria.
It has also inspired me to reread the original, and it's startling how much of the dialogue so far is the same, although this is before the plot starts diverging.
"I am a total stranger," Sophie lied firmly remains one of the most successful single lines in written English.
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