Otherwise Maladroit

23 February 1998 Review of the Film "Titanic"

23 February 1998

Review of the Film "Titanic"

If I am recalling accurately, I viewed the film in its second week's running. {Actually the first Sunday of its showing.} Me and my mother, my sole companion during the junket, arrived within the earliest working hour of the department store. We chose the cinemas in SM City EDSA because it was so conveniently near, and almost all of its twelve cinemas featured the Titanic. I thought that only the most industrious would brave the streets to shop in that lazy Sunday morning, so I was confident that we would get a headstart against the weekend crowd. Alas, I underestimated the power of a pretty face. Leonardo Di Caprio's pretty face, that is.

It was only before ten o'clock and I was already feeling suffocated. The cinemas were shut off with long blue tapes used for ribbons, which barely contained the people clinging to it. As I expected, the majority of us gathered were women, homosexuals included. The atmosphere was marked with excitement and impatience. The guard that patrolled our line looked very amused, and he smirked at us. Finally, with a shrill whistle he let us through. Wild women came from all directions. A chorus of "Aaaaahs!", and stampeding feet rose from the participants of the marathon. I refused to be included with the uncivilized race for the queues, until I saw the lines rapidly lengthening. I abandoned all facets of civilization and struggled to get in line with my mother in tow.

We settled at the topmost row of seats in the Premiere section. We had forfeited our chance to buy snacks to get seats with a good view. So, while most of the audience was clogged in the food counter the movie started.

The opening scene, wherein the sunken Titanic was being probed by submersible crafts, was impressive. It was computer generated, and it was the best technology could offer. The ocean looked properly dark and overwhelming, and the crafts' lights pierced its depths with realistic clarity; it was, needless to say, a computer junkie's wet dream. If it was not for the articles in the newspapers that covered information about the production of the film, I would not have known it was only a sequence of generated images. It looked very, very realistic. Though some of the underwater camera shots were taken from actual footage of an expedition that studied the Titanic.

I will continue my ravings about the superb graphics. It was award-winning, or at least it won me over. The following computer generated images are the envy of any movie production: the playful dolphins that raced the ship and leaped from the ocean in glorious watery arcs; the tiny people strolling the decks, and later violently drowning in the icy Atlantic; and even the generous puffs of black smoke that drifted from the funnels of the Titanic. {Later I was to know that the dolphins were real.} The painstakingly re-created set, the dreamy lighting, the exquisite costumes, and all the appropriately placed props should not be left out from the attention it deserves. I would not be suprised if I found out that the movie's production budget was enough to pay our national debt.

It is a pity that the script could not keep up with the film's grandeur. This movie should have been called anything else except its title "Titanic", because it is a misleading feature. With that title one would have expected a suspenseful, yet informative minute-by-minute account of the actual tragedy. Instead, we are presented with a sappy romantic story that is alien to the actual events. It is not that I am a heartless creature, lacking appreciation for elegant, stark, or poetic romances that miraculously transcend all obstructions. It is just that Titanic is miles away from such movies as The Piano, The Age of Innocence, A Room with a View, Bleu, or Anna Karenina, which I am eagerly anticipating.

James Cameron is better off with action and science fiction flicks, because there in his element he is a genius. Alright, so he was inspired, but his creation isn't. The thing is he tries too hard, that everything is in excess. Titanic strove to hit every convention of a romantic movie, making it predictable and tiring to watch. Other than that, it lacks feeling. For all its photographic beauty, I was not drawn into the story. If I did feel anything, it was awkwardness. For a movie that claims so much magnificence, it did not have a sure foot. The plot was arranged haphazardly, and coiled around itself. The movie was too fast for three hours. I wasn't lulled into the movie, I was forced into it. I wasn't sympathetic, I was sarcastic. I wasn't teary-eyed, I was indignant.

Titanic's most commercialized scene, where the star-crossed lovers, Jack Dawson (Leonardo Di Caprio) and Rose De Witt Bukater (Kate Winslet) finally came to an understanding of their mutual feelings, is a sloppily plotted excuse to initiate the first kiss. As I have mentioned earlier, every conventional practice of romance was hit. The slow-motion, the meaningful look, the breathless pause, and, of course, the title song of the soundtrack while the kiss was being set. The scene itself is emotionally floating. Rose's decision to choose Jack over her mother and fiancé was not emphasized, so the development was not completely concrete. The kiss was posed, and staged to be sentimentally perfect. It happened while their hair and clothes were whipped by the wind, the sky was blue and infinite, and the nose of the ship was slicing the waters. It was quickly followed by the portrait scene where everything suggested intimacy. The colors, the lighting, and the music's aim were obvious: eroticism. The scene should have stimulated, not titillated, the audience. It lacked maturity and sophistication, probably because Di Caprio's look is eternally boyish. An erotic scene is a chance to enhance, and feature sexuality. It should have been a celebration of the joy in the differences of each sex, which makes a relationship exciting and electrifying. Instead, it was just a novelty added to the story.

Enough of the "love scenes", and on to the sinking of the ship! In the action sequences James Cameron's folly is most evident. This is where he confuses his action movies to a timepiece film. The camera close-ups that were applicable in Terminator and True Lies, are dizzying in a costume drama. Since Cameron had no modern-day reason to create suspense (such as an ingenuous computer virus to be beat) he resorts to having Jack and Rose kissing and reciting sappy dialogue, while the ship is sinking. The danger was not tangible and the fear was not infectious. The progress of the action scenes was so slow, that it was almost calm. The sinking of the ship was so anticipated, that the actual moment of it happening was not dreadful. The moment of doom was not damning.

To summarize all that I have written, but not all that I have to say about Titanic: it is overrated.

posted by Otherwise Maladroit @ 5:10 PM