reading

Our play-reading group has just finished The Lion in Winter, James Goldman's famous dramatization of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. It's a powerful work and I felt drained after some of the scenes. But that comes from playing Henry with the shadows of Peter O'Toole, Patrick Stewart (in the movie remake), and Robert Preston (the original stage Henry) all looking over your shoulder at once.

One scene of bitter conflict with the princes ends with Henry describing what his biography will say of him: Eleanor "bore him many children - but no sons. King Henry had no sons. He had three whiskered things but he disowned them." He curses them and then he breaks down: "My boys are gone. I've lost my boys." Reading that with the power it deserves is quite the challenge.

Later Henry comes up with another explanation for his problems: "I want no women in my life." At this point I succumbed to the temptation to ad-lib: "My name is Henry, my last name is Higgins, and I want no women in my life."

Oscar the grouch

Academy Award nominations have come out. I've seen five of the listed films, all of them nominated either for Best Picture or Best Animated Feature: Dune and West Side Story, both of which I saw in the theater in virtually-deserted matinee showings; and three which I saw online: Being the Ricardos, Encanto, and Raya and the Last Dragon.

I wrote about all five of these here when I saw them. I didn't strongly dislike any, but I guess I'd say I found Dune and West Side Story more impressive than sheerly enjoyable. That an epic sweeper like Dune succeeded at all was a huge plus, however. Being the Ricardos scratched my liking to see movies based on recent historical events, even though I'm not a big I Love Lucy fan (but I'm not intending to see Spencer, because it's made by the director who made Jackie, the most deadly historical film of my recent viewing). Raya and the Last Dragon was just another Disney feature, with all the mixed blessings of that breed, but Encanto was more than a bit different, and the ways that made it charming vastly outweighed the holes in the plot.

Most of the other films on the list are not on my want list, mostly for looking too grim. The only ones that really attract me, based on trailers I saw in the theater, are The Tragedy of Macbeth - all right, that's really grim, but at least I already know the story - and Cyrano, which was only nominated for costume design, but which looks really good, and I already know and like that story too.