rurounihime (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rurounihime) wrote2004-09-04 12:39 am
rurounihime) wrote2004-09-04 12:39 am
The greatest love story ever...
Anyone who has seen the 1992 version of Last of the Mohicans knows what a gorgeous movie it is. The music is hauntingly beautiful, and deeply layered, and as a musician, that is one of the first things I notice about films. This film left me gasping music-wise, and then floored me with its story, leaving me aching for... well, I suppose its been about 8 years since I first saw it.
The love story in particular.
It is very easy to watch the film and see it as a love story between Hawkeye and Cora Munro, and that is definitely the driving force of the film. But the more tragic and tantalizing love story is the relationship between Alice and Uncas. Now, the reason this relationship is so astounding is that it is built in the silences. Neither of these two characters really say a whole lot in the film. Their parts are settled into the background: important, but supposedly secondary, and only given in snippets.
That's why the casting for both characters was so excellent. Jodhi May and Eric Schweig are incredibly emotive actors; they both have the ability to speak without speaking, to encompass every emotion and thought into their expressions. Words are not necessary. Their story slips into the film as silently as they do, and the viewer does not actually realize what it has done to the story as a whole until he/she is threatened with its loss.
There is a moment toward the end of the film when Schweig looks at May -- just looks at her -- and all the words are there. Everything that has gone unsaid, everything that has been built... There is a tether tighter than the thickest cord stretched between them, and suddenly, the depth of their relationship becomes painfully apparent. The agony that single gaze portrays cuts so deeply and so quickly that one cannot help but gasp... particularly if one knows what has just happened, and what's coming. If you have seen this movie, YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.
I adore Last of the Mohicans for all of its tiny nuances, all of the silences. I rave about the musical score by Trevor Jones to anyone who will listen. But mostly, I love this film because I was riveted by the story told by the two quietest actors in the movie. They may be secondary to the romance between Cora and Hawkeye at first, but in the end, they slip their way to the forefront and silently take a rightful place there. Patient, and tragic, like the actor and actress portraying the two characters. And in my opinion, they leave a much bigger hole in your heart when the movie is finished.
If you haven't seen Last of the Mohicans(1992), please do. I guarantee you will not be sorry. After 8 years, it remains one of my favorite movies ever.
The love story in particular.
It is very easy to watch the film and see it as a love story between Hawkeye and Cora Munro, and that is definitely the driving force of the film. But the more tragic and tantalizing love story is the relationship between Alice and Uncas. Now, the reason this relationship is so astounding is that it is built in the silences. Neither of these two characters really say a whole lot in the film. Their parts are settled into the background: important, but supposedly secondary, and only given in snippets.
That's why the casting for both characters was so excellent. Jodhi May and Eric Schweig are incredibly emotive actors; they both have the ability to speak without speaking, to encompass every emotion and thought into their expressions. Words are not necessary. Their story slips into the film as silently as they do, and the viewer does not actually realize what it has done to the story as a whole until he/she is threatened with its loss.
There is a moment toward the end of the film when Schweig looks at May -- just looks at her -- and all the words are there. Everything that has gone unsaid, everything that has been built... There is a tether tighter than the thickest cord stretched between them, and suddenly, the depth of their relationship becomes painfully apparent. The agony that single gaze portrays cuts so deeply and so quickly that one cannot help but gasp... particularly if one knows what has just happened, and what's coming. If you have seen this movie, YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.
I adore Last of the Mohicans for all of its tiny nuances, all of the silences. I rave about the musical score by Trevor Jones to anyone who will listen. But mostly, I love this film because I was riveted by the story told by the two quietest actors in the movie. They may be secondary to the romance between Cora and Hawkeye at first, but in the end, they slip their way to the forefront and silently take a rightful place there. Patient, and tragic, like the actor and actress portraying the two characters. And in my opinion, they leave a much bigger hole in your heart when the movie is finished.
If you haven't seen Last of the Mohicans(1992), please do. I guarantee you will not be sorry. After 8 years, it remains one of my favorite movies ever.
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