Golly.
I care not one bit how many films Steven Spielberg, or any other director,
has got on any top ten list. What's that prove about anything? I
subscribed to this listserv because I was under the impression that it
wouldn't waste time on boring things like 'Kubrick' vs. 'Spielberg.'
I will have another go at saying what I think is interesting about A.I. (I
said it before, in an attempt at beginning a conversation with the person
who first raised the topic.)
My premise upon entering a movie theatre is: everyone who worked on the film
I am about to see, is _at least_ as smart as I am, until it's proven
otherwise. And given how much time and effort those people have lavished on
what I'm about to see, it is only fair, not to mention prudent, to pay
attention to what kind of responses the film calls forth in me, and to
assume _until it's proven otherwise_ that these responses are what the
film-makers have counted on calling up.
I have no reason not to believe that Mr Spielberg and his collaborators
understood perfectly well that the day David spends with his recreated
mother is not able to bear the burden of the expectations which David and
the audience have placed upon it. But I don't remember anything about the
film beforehand that prepared for this let-down. I do remember being most
surprised, and discomfited, and interested, by the turn the film took. It
became impossible for me to coldly ascribe my feelings of disappointment and
(frankly) distaste to either aesthetic or psychological discomfort; both
were mixed up together. And about the same time I gave up the capacity for,
or interest in, guessing how David felt about what was happening to him. I
felt, and still think, that this switch of the centre of interest (or
something like it) was intended. On my terms the film succeeds at this
point, though not at others. A large part of the fineness of the effect I
think is due to the odd quality of this moment being worked out using the
'props' that in a Steven Spielberg film generally signal or call out for a
different though just as violent emotional response - mother love, birthday
cakes...
Laura Carroll
_________________________________________________________________
Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com
|