Discuss A Master Builder
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Trying to like this...
posted by rooprectSTAFFMOD on May 9, 2023 at 11:27 AM
Pretty negative reaction after 1st watch. But that was my same reaction to Vanya on 42nd Street which I ended up really liking after a theater friend pointed out some cool stuff. Was wondering if any fans of this movie could do that here.
My biggest gripe is that it craps all over Ibsen. I mean, it's not a bad movie on its own but the fact that Shawn eviscerated the entire point of the Ibsen play didn't sit well with me. Instead of Ibsen's mindbending philosophical twist on the classic Faust tale, Shawn cut all that out and instead focused on the psychological struggle of a dying man. As a human drama it's powerful, but like I said it misses the philosophical and spiritual point of Ibsen: a clever morality tale about an architect who makes a deal with god to build great churches but then renegs on the agreement and must pay the price. That is completely gone!
So I was left with the same feeling I got at the end of Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes, you know where he decided to change the ending and thus wipe out the entire awesome point of the original story.
Reply by rooprect
on May 9, 2023 at 1:56 PM
I know right? Fun fact, they worked on this movie for 15 years, and in that time some of the cast aged so much they had to be replaced because they no longer fit the characters. But Wallace Shawn looks exactly the same so no problem there. Julie Haggerty also stayed the same (esp the scenes with her hair down). I kept waiting for her to say "by the way is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?"
Reply by rooprect
on May 10, 2023 at 12:15 AM
They recast the roles of the young architect Rangar (Jeff Biehl) & the girl Hilde (Lisa Joyce). I dunno who the original actors were but definitely Hilde needed to be played by someone really young because there’s a lowkey Lolita thing going on. Would’ve lost its punch if she was 35 yrs old.
Edit: holy crap I just looked up Lisa Joyce and she was actually 31 when they made the movie. I swear she looks about 19-20.