금요일, 5월 27, 2005
today Boy and i went into town to watch the third and final instalment of the star wars trilogy. i packed in the notes for an afternoon and put it towards some quality time with Boy.

first, i have to agree as faz said in a previous post: hayden c cannot act. throughout the movie he had about two expressions. it was a big waste, because the whole story behind how darth vader came into existence was due to his immense love for padme. in the movie our anakin just looked like he was slightly constipated most of the time, and always standing perpetually stock still in all his scenes with padme. i mean, he wasn't even trying to look like he actually felt anything for her, much less love her and their baby with such a passion that would eventually cause his downfall.

secondly, it was a pity to think that the producers were paying him truckloads of money to act like a log. on the other hand, ewan mcgregor did a wonderful job as obi-wan kenobi. he managed to capture obi-wan's wit, yet retained a little of the tempestuousness and artful glint in his eye that was present way back in episode one. as usual, ewan mcg always delivers a stellar performance. in fact, him and liam neeson as qui-gonn jinn made the best jedi tag team among the four films. then again, i suppose anyone would be better than acting alongside a plank.

the thing is, having done some dabbling in singing and performing onstage before, i've learnt that the most important thing a performer must possess is eyes that are alive -- they have to dance and catch the light, portraying emotion and changing from happiness to sadness, anger to joy in the (literally) blink of an eye. if your eyes are like dull stagnant pools, the message you're trying to convey doesn't reach the audience, and they, quite simply, don't feel it. sadly, today i didn't feel anything from hayden c's performance. even the usually stunning and compelling natalie portman wasn't able to coax the emotion out of her onscreen husband. the furtiveness and deepness of passion of their relationship failed to surface, and the spark was obviously absent. even the computer generated yoda put up a better performance. speaking of which, i really liked yoda, he was so cute in a wrinkly kind of way.

that said, i can see the point george lucas was trying to get across. star wars is a veritable epic, with love, action, loyalty, betrayal, death, power and everything else in between. his vision is admirable, but sadly let down by the disappointing performance of the central character. in fact, the supporting cast are the true pillars that contribute to whatever compelling morals that shine through. one of them who sticks out prominantly in my mind is the little boy who implores master skywalker for help, along with the clutch of younglings who were huddled in the jedi council chambers. he was only around for about half a minute, but his little stature, and the pure emotion in his voice depicted the innocence and fear that a child would feel in that situation. those were the people, who gave their all to the performance, no matter how short it was, who made the film worth watching.

nb: one thing though, was it me or did it seem like anakin and padme were incredibly orange? can anyone say fake tan?

in other news, Boy went to return his t-shirt that had gone all wonky today, and managed to get a replacement that was way better. that, and he bought me a paul frank pencil-case - for reasons best known to himself.

but am happy, no matter how shallow that seems, because i got the chance to spend an afternoon with Boy, which was more important than anything money can buy. :)