Tuesday, September 12, 2006

And you thought I was poncy...

Hannah McGill's review of the Vince Vaughn/Jennifer Aniston romcom The Break-up, in the August edition of Sight & Sound, begins thus:

"The poster for The Break-up echoes, perhaps unconciously, a publicity still of Erland Josephson and Liv Ullman from Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage."

It's the perhaps that I love.

11 comments:

Billy said...

Ha. Brilliant.

h said...

Hannah McGill's comment, with its convenient back out clause, echoes, perhaps unconsciously, the age old dilemma of media critic, that she might meet the people responsible at a dinner party.

Tim F said...

Possibly... although I'd suggest that a movie critic who makes throwaway references to Bergman's 70s oeuvre might not move in exactly the same circles as the person who designs posters for Jennifer Aniston movies. If they did, what would they say to each other? Hypothesise how Liv Ullman might have played Phoebe?

Anonymous said...

McGill, perhaps correctly, points out a remarkably obvious act of plagiarism in copying the Scenes from a Marriage poster. The poster designer, perhaps, after a coke fuelled night, copied the image from the Internet, thinking that the morons who'd watch the Aniston movie, would almost certainly not notice the similarity ...

Unknown said...

i tried - i really, really did - to watch this movie four times, to no avail.

can someone just tell me if it is any good???

Tim F said...

If you tried and failed four times, the chances are that it's shite. On a point of interest, though, which film are you talking about?

And that's a sound hypothesis, Emma. Do people in the film industry do cocaine then? Blimey.

Anonymous said...

I watched The Break-up, and I thought it was a good, well acted film. Although it made for uncomfortable viewing at times. A little too close to the bone one might say, having found myself having the very same conversations (and arguments) in my own life.

As for McGill, the pomposity she displays in that review is beyond belief. Get over yourself woman and write about the film- not the poster!

Anonymous said...

People get paid for this shite. Get a proper job Ms McGill

Tim F said...

Reviews of reviews. This is intertextuality in action!

Molly Bloom said...

Perhaps. Perhaps. Perhaps.

Ah...the word is an imaginative leap into the world of possibilities...

Billy said...

Is it just me or is Jennifer Aniston rubbish in films? Apart from Office Space of course, but it wasn't exactly the most challenging role.

Oh and thanks to Molly, I now have Doris Day stuck in my head.

# You won't admit you love me