• Review Index
  • About Me
  • Suggestions

vinnieh

~ Movie reviews and anything else that comes to mind

vinnieh

Daily Archives: April 25, 2016

The Pillow Book

25 Monday Apr 2016

Posted by vinnieh in Movie Reviews

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

1990's, Drama, Ewan McGregor, Peter Greenaway, The Pillow Book, Vivian Wu, Yoshi Oida

Film Title

The Pillow Book

Director

Peter Greenaway

Starring

  • Vivian Wu as Nagiko
  • Ewan McGregor as Jerome
  • Yoshi Oida as The Publisher

A highly unusual movie that adheres to the genre of film known as not for everyone, The Pillow Book is still a visually arresting and intoxicating experience; covering dark eroticism, obsession and revenge into an intriguing film that is hard to forget once you’ve viewed it.

As a young girl, Nagiko delighted in calligraphy as her father every year on her birthday, wrote characters on her face, while her mother read aloud from The Pillow Book. The Pillow Book Movie PosterThe eponymous book concerns a lady in waiting’s observations, primarily on the nature of love and desire. This ritual left a huge impact on Nagiko who grows up to be a beautiful young woman with a passion for literature and scripture. Yet, Nagiko also remembers her father being blackmailed and degraded by a publisher that she can’t forget. This is more prominent because she is forced to marry his boorish son, who refuses her love of writing and mocks her. Fleeing from him, Nagiko relocates to Hong Kong, where she encounters some success as a fashion model. Yet while she still derives joy from calligraphy, as an adult she now finds it to be sexually stimulating too. The problem is she can’t find a lover who can indulge her unusual passions and connect with her. That is until she comes across British translator Jerome. She soon begins a relationship with him in which they often make love and write on each other’s bodies, even though Nagiko knows that Jerome is bisexual and is intimate with a publisher. Nagiko continues to write and sends her work to a publisher, who rejects it. she is shocked to discover it is the same publisher who ruined her father and is the man in the relationship with Jerome. Yet Jerome sees this as an opportunity to help Nagiko; he asks her to use his body like pages and send him to the publisher so he can see the work and because he likes Jerome, reconsider refusing the work Nagiko sent him. But Jerome’s refusal to break off his relationship with the publisher spells dire and tragic consequences for all as Nagiko feels eventually betrayed.

Now as I mentioned earlier, The Pillow Book is a polarizing movie, much like a lot of the movies directed by Peter Greenaway. Depending on your viewpoint, you can see it as overly arty and pretentious or strikingly adult and challenging. I feel I fall into the latter category. I must give props to Peter Greenaway for his directing prowess, that lets his imagination run wild and employ arresting visual techniques. I will try to list the many visual tricks he employs that really make the movie an experience. There is switches between black and white and colour, overlapping images combining past and present and words that float across the screen. The way these nifty tricks are used is phenomenal and the melding of all of them imprints itself on the mind from the start to the finish. Greenaway is a filmmaker who really understands the concept of cinema as art and The Pillow Book is a very good example of this. Jerome and NagikoSubtlety isn’t his strong suit, but his overblown style compensates for that and the fact that the characters often take a back stand to the imagery. Sexuality and pleasures of the flesh play an important part in the film and this may have a reason for people either liking it or not. There is nudity and sex to be seen, with a lot of nudity from both sexes for a change. But anyone expecting it to be erotic and steamy will be surprised at the unusual nature of it and the practices shown. The scattershot soundtrack combines songs of different languages and genres to a bizarre yet very intriguing effect. It’s safe to say that this film will really divide opinions and while I did find there were some flaws to be found, I was really immersed in the film for the most part.

While the characters present within The Pillow Book often play second fiddle to the style, the actors in the parts are all very credible it must be said. NagikoVivian Wu portrays the very extreme emotions and pleasures of Nagiko without resorting to melodrama. In turn, the character becomes a lot of things and Wu handles them all very capably. Her well-spoken voice is heard through narration which adds another layer of dimension to the character of Nagiko. Ewan McGregor is suitably great as the insincere Jerome, imbuing him with a charm and tragedy yet an inability to compromise that provides the film with drama. In the role of the odious publisher who Nagiko plots revenge against, Yoshi Oida is very good at putting forth his careless nature and disregard for others.

Dark, painterly and experimental to say the least, The Pillow Book will either have you scratching your head or in total awe. Whichever way you see it, one can’t deny the impression it makes.

Apologies For my Absence

25 Monday Apr 2016

Posted by vinnieh in Announcements

≈ 33 Comments

Tags

Apologies

The last two days have been very busy for me so I’ve only had a bit of time to blog, which accounts for the lack of material. Everything will be back to normal now. I just wanted everyone to know that I hadn’t forgotten them and that I was just ridiculously busy. I’m back to normality now.

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012

Categories

  • 007 thoughts and reviews
  • Adventures of Satrap
  • Announcements
  • Awards and Achievements
  • Birthdays and Tributes
  • Blogging Community
  • Blogging Questions
  • Creepy
  • Gif Posts
  • Humour
  • Movie and Television Trivia
  • Movie opinions and thoughts
  • Movie Reviews
  • Music reviews and opinions
  • Photography Discussion
  • Rest In Peace
  • Sport
  • Television Opinions
  • Television Reviews
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
April 2016
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  
« Mar   May »

Tags

007 1940's 1950's 1960's 1970's 1980's 1990's 2000's 2010's Action Adventure Announcement Based on a true story Bernard Lee Bette Davis Birthday Blogs You Should Follow Carry On Movies Cate Blanchett Comedy Crime Desmond Llewelyn Drama Fantasy Foreign Language Film Gillian Anderson Happy Birthday Horror James Bond Judi Dench Julianne Moore Julia Roberts Liebster Award Lois Maxwell Madonna Maggie Smith Matthew Fox Meryl Streep Michelle Pfeiffer Music Musical Mystery Natalie Portman Neve Campbell Period Drama Psychological Horror Psychological Thriller Rest In Peace Romance Romantic Comedy Science Fiction Spy Supernatural Horror Thriller

Top Posts & Pages

Lyric Analysis - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Kylie Minogue: Where the Wild Roses Grow
Which Actors and Actresses Seem to Get Naked A lot on Film?
Desperate Housewives Season 6
Desperate Housewives Season 1
Beyoncé's Sexiest Videos
Lyric Analysis - Sugababes: Too Lost in You
More Butts
Conan the Destroyer
A Collection of Butts
Desperate Housewives Season 4
Follow vinnieh on WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy