We'll haul for better weather

[sovay]

My day was much more stressful and snow-filled than I had been hoping, so tonight I walked into Davis Square (in a record twenty-one minutes, despite snow and ice) and saw The Finest Hours (2016) at the Somerville Theatre because I knew the story of the Pendleton rescue and I wanted a movie with the sea in it. Very short reaction: it is about seventy percent the movie I was hoping for. Casey Affleck is great; I knew that from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), but I have especially high standards for a diffident introvert at the center of a crisis who rises to the challenge without developing cinematic leadership skills. It was a nice discovery that when Chris Pine's not being alt-Kirk, he can actually act. I like stories of heroic engineering; I like stories of tricky seamanship. I like that neither of the protagonists is the traditional square-jawed type, good at rousing speeches or inspirational charisma so much as just getting on with the job. The romantic conflict is not just a whole-cloth fiction, it doesn't play well with the rest of the script and throws off everything from pacing to tone and I felt very badly for Holliday Grainger, who has an ideal face and voice for 1952 and is so much better than her part. John Magaro has a small role, but between it and Carol (2015), he's on my list of up-and-coming character actors to keep an eye on. Eric Bana's scenes feel like the leftovers from a deleted subplot. A full review will have to wait until I've slept and taken some painkillers, because the Diesel accidentally served me a salt caramel latte instead of a salt caramel hot chocolate and although I took only one sip before tasting coffee, I still have a kind of fringe migraine with a painful buzz at the front of my face and light sensitivity that's causing some odd visual effects. derspatchel walked me most of the way home in case the rest of the migraine came on and I fell over. It hasn't so far; I spent some decompression time reading entertaining bits of the internet with rushthatspeaks (I really recommend this oral history of The Apple (1980) as well as the comments). I still don't feel good. I should not spend much more time awake.

Comments

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Ow. I hope the migraine recedes and you get some sleep.

Nine

[sovay]

I hope the migraine recedes and you get some sleep.

Thank you. I did, eventually. Am now working quietly on a couch graced by the intermittent presence of my cats.

[edit] You should know that The Finest Hours contains one good traditional version of "Haul Away Joe" sung diegetically by four members of the Coast Guard in heavy seas and one contemporary guitar-layered indie-rock version sung over the credits by a band I've never heard of. Unsurprisingly, I prefer the former.

[negothick.livejournal.com]

I was at the Coast Guard East Coast premiere of the film, and many in the crowd were (of course) fact-checking constantly--including one of the co-authors of the book.

The crew actually sang a hymn, but "Haul Away Joe" was a perfect choice!
As you wrote, the love story plot was (mostly) fictional. She was actually in bed with the flu during the rescue, but even the author admitted that having her "light her love's way home" was effective.

The technical details of the rescue were quite accurate.

[sovay]

She was actually in bed with the flu during the rescue, but even the author admitted that having her "light her love's way home" was effective.

Yes; it's a great image, those who remain on shore serving as beacons for those who go out on the sea. derspatchel can attest that I was all but banging on the arm of my seat in the theater, expecting the headlights to turn on long before the film thought we should notice. ("Fifty years ago, you would have been lighting bonfires!") I'm glad to hear that the co-author thought it was an effective touch; I remain ambivalent. I really didn't like any of the romance plot. I understand not wanting to erase the real-life Miriam from the story entirely—though I think being bedridden with a fever while your husband does something incredibly dangerous comes with its own built-in suspense—but I do better, honestly, with all-male films than with films where the one substantial female character spends the whole time fretting over the hero. Sometimes no representation is better than clichéd representation.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

I do better, honestly, with all-male films than with films where the one substantial female character spends the whole time fretting over the hero. Sometimes no representation is better than clichéd representation.

Cue the traditional "this!"-style dingdindingDING noise. Ie, me damn well too.

[negothick.livejournal.com]

To the screenwriters' credit, they did try to give Miriam a bigger role--not only instigating the headlights idea, but arguing with the station commander (you can imagine the eye-rolling that occasioned in the audience at the premiere), etc. We were shown a clip of the real Miriam at her husband's funeral a few years ago (before the film, obviously). I wonder what her reaction has been to seeing herself so transformed onscreen!