Film review: Lincoln

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Daniel Day-Lewis, entertainment, Film Review, Film review: Lincoln, Golden Globe, Guiver McGrath, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Lincoln, movies, Oscar, Sally Field, Stephen Spielberg, Thirteenth Amendment, Tommy Lee Jones, Tony Kushner

In 1865 Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) is re-elected President of the United States and the war between North and South still rages on. But instead of focusing solely on ending the war, Abe battles to push the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting slavery, through the House of Representatives.

As Democrats and Republicans debate loudly and not very nicely, Lincoln assigns his secretary of State William Seward (David Strathairn) to hire ‘enforcers’ to sway the wavering House voters.

But Lincoln also has to deal with his emotionally unstable wife Mary (Sally Field), his rambunctious young son Tad (Guiver McGrath) and his oldest son’s, Robert (Joseph Gordon Levitt), fight for emancipation.

Although all the actors in Lincoln are superb, especially Tommy Lee Jones as the persistent and persuasive Thaddeus Stevens, the film is long and more often then not the witty debates seem repetitive and do not really drive the plot forward. As we all know the outcome Lincoln lacks suspense and even though the gritty filming does lend an air of reality it also makes the scenes dark and gray.

Lincoln is like a tug of war between director Stephen Spielberg and his cinematic view and the interwoven script by writer Tony Kushner. And as most of the scenes take place in closed off rooms, the crowded House of Representatives, darkened rooms in the White House and small hospital wards, Lincoln often feels claustrophobic, stifled. However this is could possibly be the outward appearance of the inner struggles of Lincoln himself.

As a European you can’t help but wonder if the Golden Globe hype, five nominations but only one win, and Oscar predictions surrounding this epic film of the sixteenth president, has more to do with the subject matter than with the actual film itself.  And even though Lincoln is far from being a bad film, it may just not be everyone’s taste.

 

 

 

wonderful words

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inspiration, miscellaneous, quotes, random, thoughts

I read a quote today that has been jingling around in my brain, tugging at my conscious mind and making me wear my glasses. It really is  only a simple sentence that Mark Twain once said:

You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus

And while these wonderful words have been tumbling around in my mind I couldn’t help but think about all those inspirational quotes that we see, read or even collect every single day.

As I pondered the reason behind our fascination with wise words and quirky quotes I stumbled upon an article in Psychologies dealing with just that topic. It seems that the reason behind us “inspire-bombing” various social media sites and tweeting uplifting words, is that they motivate us to go from negative to positive in an instant.

Another reason is that without too much effort we can chew on bite size wisdom. No need to read those chunky philosophy books to find a ray of sun between the clouds, nor do we have to research world religions for some spiritual guidance, just a quick click onto facebook, printertest or twitter and we can reap what others have sown.

It also means that we don’t always have to admit to our own thoughts, feelings or ideas but we can hide behind the words of others, protecting our inner emotions from being too exposed. However maybe that also means we distance ourselves from our true feelings, put a lovely label on it instead of truly allowing ourselves to deal with what it is going on inside.

So with that in mind maybe I should try to focus my own imagination, instead of  putting on my glasses and finding someone else’s words to express my dreams.