this heart is where you truly live

[pauraque_bk]

keladryb and my brother and I went to see PoA today. Fourth viewing for me. I was surprised at how many people were there... far more than the last two times I went, and it was the middle of the day.

I tried harder to notice small details this time. There are some cool ones in the Leaky Cauldron scene, like when the waiter picks up a bottle with a rag, the bottle vanishes in a sleight-of-hand trick, and he uses the rag to finish wiping up the table. Cuaron is very good with that -- making magic a casual part of life. I also saw for myself what some had reported, that during one of the reaction shots in the Care of Magical Creatures scene, Ron and Hermione are not the only ones who grab onto each other -- Seamus and Dean do as well.

Afterwards, we talked about the movie as fanfic, interpreting and adding to canon. keladryb made the connection that Lupin listens to decades-old music with a phonograph, Snape uses decades-old technology for his slideshow... it suggests that there was some contact with the Muggle world in the recent past, which was cut off, perhaps in a Grindelwald-related way. Not canon, but an interesting take, one you might expect from fic.

Another odd little thing is that while in the book, every moment after the Shrieking Shack is well accounted for, the movie leaves a long gap after Sirius, Ron, Harry, and Hermione come out of the tunnel, and before Peter and Remus do. What does Cuaron imagine they're doing down there? If this were canon, that'd be a fic.

We also discussed the possibility that some of the Shrieking Shack dialogue was improvised, which would explain why none of it is word-for-word canon. And agreed that we really hope there'll be director's commentary on the DVD.

Randomly: As they're walking away from Buckbeak, Sirius and Hermione are briefly holding hands.

Comments

[noblerot.livejournal.com]

Randomly: As they're walking away from Buckbeak, Sirius and Hermione are briefly holding hands.

Hee. Slashy subtexts aside, I enjoyed the characters' physicality in PoA. Cuaron approaches human contact the same way he does magic, as "a casual part of life" (to borrow your phrase). Friends embrace without embarassment; there's a certain warmth/heat to the encounters, whether hostile (Snape vs. Remus & Sirius, trio vs. Malfoy posse) or affectionate (inter-trio, Remus & Sirius, etc.).

I suppose it comes down to heart -- I can feel one beating in this film. To my eye, the first two HP movies simulated emotion. PoA embodies emotion in every scenic and character detail.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

I hope you don't mind me tagging my comment onto yours, but it's just what I was thinking of in terms of human contact. The scenes seem much more human: Harry & Remus in the DADA classroom, the boys in the Gryffindor dorm, the Leaky Cauldron, even McGonagall, the Minister and Rosmerta in the pub.

I've always been saddened at the lack of actual human touch these days in general. Hugs seem forced and there's real surprise when an embrace is neither embarrassing or fake, but of genuine heart and good will.

[muridae-x.livejournal.com]

I'd dearly love to see the movie again, but it's crept back to the point where it's only doing 10am showings at my local cinema now. Hmmph. It's all very well catering for the kids who are on their summer holiday from school, but some of us adults enjoyed it too.

I found the Leaky Cauldron scenes to be very rich in detail. I've tried to concentrate on different things every time, and I'm still convinced I must have missed loads. I badly need it on DVD so that I can rewind and replay, but even just watching the Weasleys interact at the table in the background while Mr Weasley gives Harry his little warning lecture is fascinating.

keladryb made the connection that Lupin listens to decades-old music with a phonograph, Snape uses decades-old technology for his slideshow... it suggests that there was some contact with the Muggle world in the recent past, which was cut off, perhaps in a Grindelwald-related way.

My alternative take on that is that perhaps it takes the wizarding world a while to absorb and embrace some of the innovations from the Muggle world. They do, by and large, seem to look down on it as inferior, rather than just different, but either they're reinventing the wheel when they come up with the Wizarding Wireless Network, or some smart cookie who got top marks in his Muggle Studies NEWT is slowly reinventing Muggle things from the wizarding perspective.

The idea of the two worlds coming together and then breaking apart again is interesting though. It might even be what the Grindelwald troubles were about - a negative reaction to such interaction - whereas the Voldemort climb to power seems to have been the mirror image of that - pulling up the drawbridge entirely.

[asphodeline.livejournal.com]

The last time I saw it I did the same, looked for the little details. There's a lot to see in the time-turner scene in the background as Harry and Hermione return, especially the fact that Snape is there at Ron's (?) bedside for quite a while

Oh, and as to the DADA slide show, I have to confess that we had a very similar contraption in our French classes in High School!!!! It reminded me of French lessons first time I saw it. It was a brand new high school so we had fairly modern equipment!! (mid 70's in case you're wondering!)

[pauraque]

I tried hard to see what was going on in the "rewind" bit, but couldn't really catch anything. Probably the first thing I'll do when I get the DVD.

little things (and physicality)

[malograntum.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of the way they did the frogs singing with the chorus. On the second viewing, I confirmed (at least to my own satisfaction) that the frogs are puppets controlled by the kids holding them, with a prop hand underneath to conceal the fact that their real hand is in the frog. Very simple no-tech effect, the way you'd do it in a play. Most directors these days would have CGI'd it just because they could. Yay for using real stuff.

Re: little things (and physicality)

[pauraque]

I don't think I'd have noticed that, because I and a lot of other fen became sort of fixated on the toad choir's simple existence, in all its inexplicable and uncanonical glory. *points at icon*

What I really want to know is how they ended up with a hippogriff that looked real, and a rat and a dog that looked fake.