The Park City Library and my weekly pilgrimage have afforded me the opportunity to see a lot of movies I have been "meaning" to see. You know, the ones you put on a list to save for a rainy day, or "when there's time," or whatever.
The library's selection is not huge, but what is there is significant; indie gems, old classics, and the occasional guilty pleasure.
Which brings me to today, and Titanic's presence on the shelf.
I saw Titanic three times in the 1997-1998 year (I think all of them were in the theater). I may or may not have bought it on VHS (woo!) but I promise you I did not watch it all the way through. Titanic is not something you can half-ass. You either have to sit down and watch it or not even bother.
Then, like everyone else ever, I experienced the backlash and swore it was stupid and that I would never watch it again. This was compounded by my seeing LA Confidential, a vastly superior film, and realizing that it lost to the... er... titanic Titanic in the 1998 Oscars. And that kids, is just not cool.
Recently I was talking to "a friend" (we're still at euphemisms, people) and we decided that maybe it was time to give Titanic another shot. This time not from the rose-colored Leo DiCaprio hype-glasses, but with a more discerning, adult, decade-later kind of eye.
And I have to tell you, it doesn't hold up well.
The emotional impact of the film is still heavy, but this time with the obvious human tragedy exploited for blockbuster dollars. Kate Winslet is lovely as ever, while Leo still looks like a fetus (you don't realize what a decade can do for someone's looks until you see Leo then and Leo now. And let me state for the record, I prefer Leo now). The story doesn't hold up; a decade of romance novel reading makes even Jack and Rose's miraculous forty-eight hour love story seem contrived. And of course he has to die. Because honestly, what was going to happen to them when they got off the boat?
Which means this boils down to a "he drops into her life to change her perspective, but can't stay to see the results" set against the backdrop of the legendary sinking ship. Blah.
The fashions are genius, Kathy Bates is hysterical, and I completely forgot that Victor Garber, love of my life is in it. (I went from my Alias marathon to Titanic... we're all Victor all the time, and we don't mess around).
I was left with the knowledge that I had tried Titanic again, and the surety that I could wait another decade before my next viewing.
And now I find myself writing this with Knocked Up on in the background, just as a palate cleanser.
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