Limitless and The Boy James
Feb. 12th, 2012 01:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI admit that I wasn't really paying much attention for the second half of Limitless, and I probably missed some vital plot points that would have made it make sense. But, the reason I wasn't paying attention to the second half was because the first half wasn't very good. It was over-narrated - the voiceover was rarely absent and really not necessary and made the whole thing feel very heavy-handed. For a film that was supposed to be about mental capacity, it wasn't very clever and had far too much running around and random violence in it. And they somehow managed to make Bradley Cooper unattractive, which is quite impressive. Perhaps it would have been better if I'd watched it properly, instead of doing something else at the same time, but the engagement just wasn't there.
The Boy James was an interesting experience, to say the least. We were greeted at the door by the protagonist and invited into his home, where we listened to an audience member reading a poem, and then played quite an entertaining game of wink murder. Our host was incredibly engaging, and he successfully drew us into the fabric of the play. However, this made the middle section even more disturbing than it would have been otherwise - since we had already been asked to assist and participate earlier on, it made me wonder if we were supposed to intervene when things started to go wrong. The whole play was about the loss of childhood innocence and the putting away of childish things - but it didn't make the more adult passtimes of alcohol and sex seem remotely attractive, and I'm certain that a progression into adulthood that leaves your childhood self bereft and broken on the floor is not an inevitable part of life. I thought two out of the three actors were very good, and the start and end of the play were well done, but I could have done without the middle bit, and I prefer to believe that setting aside childish things is not something that is necessary.
The Boy James was an interesting experience, to say the least. We were greeted at the door by the protagonist and invited into his home, where we listened to an audience member reading a poem, and then played quite an entertaining game of wink murder. Our host was incredibly engaging, and he successfully drew us into the fabric of the play. However, this made the middle section even more disturbing than it would have been otherwise - since we had already been asked to assist and participate earlier on, it made me wonder if we were supposed to intervene when things started to go wrong. The whole play was about the loss of childhood innocence and the putting away of childish things - but it didn't make the more adult passtimes of alcohol and sex seem remotely attractive, and I'm certain that a progression into adulthood that leaves your childhood self bereft and broken on the floor is not an inevitable part of life. I thought two out of the three actors were very good, and the start and end of the play were well done, but I could have done without the middle bit, and I prefer to believe that setting aside childish things is not something that is necessary.
