(Doctor Strange movie poster)
This movie made it worth my getting out of bed early on a Sunday morning! Tickets to early morning screenings (before 12 noon) are discounted; and if I could just wake up early, I could save KRW5,000. And I did!
And who doesn't like Benedict Cumberbatch and his acting?
In Star Trek Into Darkness, he was Khan, an emotionless superhuman. Here, in Doctor Strange, he's a surgeon who became a sorcerer.
Doctor Strange is probably the best Marvel movie in years. Unlike the Avengers series where there are too many characters and too many fighting scenes in too many cities making you forget who's really fighting whom, Doctor Strange offers just one mesmerizing lead character played by one mesmerizing actor.
Doctor Strange reminds me of Inception (where buildings and streets turn upside-down), House M.D. (about an arrogant doctor who's always full of himself), and Harry Potter (where you get your own weapons and a special cloak).
But it's the movie's comic book style of storytelling that makes it a good movie: slow, clear, great special effects and funny! The action scenes didn't have to be Avenger-ish to impress. Even if the buildings and streets turned 360-degrees during chases, it was superbly done with no one getting dizzy inside the cinema.
I wasn't surprised Tilda Swinton was cast as the Ancient One, the hairless, lead sorcerer who taught the Cumberbatch find his powers. Tilda was always effective as a fantasy character in costumes like she was as the White Witch in Narnia. She was funny in Grand Budapest Hotel with Ralph Fiennes and impeccable in an American accent in Michael Clayton, where she won an Oscar.
Early this year, I watched Benedict Cumberbatch play Hamlet with all his British-ness at the National Theater of Korea. But this morning, I walked for 15 minutes from my apartment, braving the 3'C temperature to watch him speak in an American accent in one of the best superhero movies in years.
(Pinoy lunch of dinuguan, kare-kare
and pancit after Doctor Strange)
Inside the theater were mostly kids with parents who probably also woke up early for the screening. As the movie was over by noon, I headed to the pinoy market at Hyewha-dong for a Filipino lunch. Sadly, the restaurant run by 'Ed' always didn't have 'bago-ong' for their 'kare-kare'.
Early morning screening or not, I highly recommend Doctor Strange, and don't leave the theater once the closing credits show up as there are a couple of post-credit scenes. You don't want to miss Thor with a mug of beer as well as the last quote of the movie:
"Because I see it now what's wrong with the world. Too many sorcerers."
(From across the street,
Benedict Cumberbatch and
Tom Hiddleston's posters)
When I was in Grade 6, Miss Maroma, our English teacher, introduced my classmates and me to the works of William Shakespeare, including Merchant of Venice, where Portia successfully defended Antonio from being butchered by Shylock.
(Cumberbatch fans ascending
the steps of the National Theater)
But during the other weekend, I was no longer in a classroom; I was at the National Theater of Korea. And it wasn't Merchant of Venice; I was watching NTLive's Hamlet! With Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, no less!
Just like Coriolanus, the National Theater Live was also featuring Hamlet. NTLive is a live performance filmed and then later shown to audiences around the world. And this time, the lucky audiences were in the National Theater of Korea in Seoul!
Although it was chilly that day, the audience braved freezing temperatures. Why? Everyone didn't want to miss Benedict Cumberbatch's performance!
I watched him on TV as Sherlock Holmes, and a couple of years back, he was impressive as Alan Turing in Imitation Game. Definitely, nobody wanted to miss this award-winning actor's performance as Hamlet!
(My Hamlet ticket)
Even though it was freezing and snowing outside, the intensity of the cast's performance was sizzling inside the theater, especially with Benedict's signature deep voice that resonated across the hall and his emotions that were commanding from all angles. Since most audience members were non-English speaking, there were subtitles at the bottom of the screen.
Benedict Cumberbatch was the voice of Smaug in The Hobbit, and he was emotionless and superhuman as Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness. Here was an actor with a special kind of presence, and that day, I was a witness to his amazing gift of acting: voice, emotions and all!
Although the play lasted three hours, there was nary a dull moment. After all, instead of flying to London to watch Shakespeare, we were all lucky that NTLive brought Shakespeare and Benedict over to Seoul! And even though it was all a videoed performance, the local audience still showed their appreciation and applauded like the whole cast was just right there within hearing distance.
(Huge posters at the lobby of
the National Theater)
After the performance, everyone headed home to a snowed Seoul with paths a little bit slippery, but nobody complained. We were treated, not just to this unique NTLive's staging of William Shakespeare's longest play, but also to Benedict Cumberbatch's sublime performance.
(Giant Benedict Cumberbatch and
Tom Hiddleston's posters at the
National Theater of Korea entrance)
Last month, as my bus was passing by the National Theater of Korea in Seoul, a huge poster caught my eye. The two men in the poster looked familiar!
It was Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston! Benedict Cumberbatch was Sherlock Holmes on TV's Sherlock and was brilliant as Alan Turing on Imitation Game, while Tom Hiddleston was, well, bossy as Loki of Asgard in The Avengers. From my bus window, I took a photo of the poster to see what it was all about. Because with two big names and recognizable faces on the huge posters, who wouldn't want to pass up the chance to see them?
The poster was for the performances of Coriolanus and Hamlet for the National Theater Live, or NTLive, which is a filmed live performance at a London stage and shown at other theaters around the world. And this time, in Seoul, NTLive was showing Shakespeare's Coriolanus and Hamlet!
When I got home that day, I immediately logged on to the website of the National Theater of Korea and just got lucky that, over the play dates, there were a few seats left for Coriolanus and one, yes, one-unexplainable-mysteriously-available-seat for Hamlet! Whew! Of course, I bought the available seats immediately! It's Shakespeare!
And on the play date for Coriolanus, the main theater was packed!
Coriolanus is a tragedy, and I didn't expect Tom to show up as a god from Asgard complete with horns and cape. Here, Tom Hiddleston was a successful Roman general and was spilling out Shakespeare's words like they were meant to be his. Since NTLive had close-ups, Tom's intensity was magnified all over the big screen. His words and emotions jumped out of the screen and reached even those sitting at the farthest corner of the theater (perhaps they also bought their tickets late!). Tom, as an angry Coriolanus, still pierced them on their seats with his emotions as if they were sitting up front. I even told myself, I liked this NTLive! I didn't have to fly to London to watch Shakespeare! Ha-ha-ha!
A familiar face in the cast caught my attention: Alfred Enoch, who played a student at Viola Davis's How To Get Away With Murder drama series. I didn't know he was English. I thought he was an African-American who happened to attend Viola Davis's law class at a Philadelphia university and later got involved in a murder plot in that drama. Here, in Coriolanus, Alfred plays Titus Lartius, another Roman general.
(Brochures for Hamlet and Coriolanus)
Although Tom Hiddleston plays the main character, his mom, Volumnia, played by Deborah Findlay matched his performance word-for-word. Miss Findlay stole the scene from Tom a few times, and for a very good reason: she was very good! And in each of her scene, she made sure the audience knew who she was: an ambitious mother to Coriolanus and a very good stage actress.
After the play, I realized I was lucky to have looked out the window that day and spotted the poster, or I wouldn't have had the opportunity to experience and enjoy NTLive's Coriolanus.
(My tickets for NTLive performances)
I started reading Shakespeare at 12 during my grade school years. Our English teacher, Miss Maroma, would read with us the plays during class and made us understand those centuries-old Shakespearian words. But that night, among the audience made up of Koreans and a few foreigners, I watched and enjoyed not just another Shakespeare work, but performances and a production of the highest quality even William Shakespeare would have been proud of.
* * * * *
Next play, Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet!
These British actors are really good. First, there was Eddie Redmayne for Theory of Everything. Now, there's Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game (I haven't watched David Oyelowo in 'Selma' yet).
Luckily, before the Seollal holidays closed most of the cinemas in Seoul (I presume all cinema staff also need to be with their families), I was able to get one of the last seats available for the advanced screening of this movie at CGV Cinemas at Yongsan Station.
Just like Theory of Everything, which I saw late last year, The Imitation Game is about a real genius, Alan Turing. In the film, Turing reminded me of the fictional Sheldon Cooper of the The Big Bang Theory comedy TV series. Both geniuses seem to lack social skills and both look down on everyone else because they feel they're always intellectually superior. Of course, Sheldon Cooper is more famous than Alan Turing; Cooper has been a big hit on TV all these years, while Turing, well, I only knew about Alan Turing when this movie came out. Maybe because Alan Turing, who brilliantly cracked Nazi Germany's codes during World War II, actually worked on a project that remained a secret even after the war was over.
Benedict Cumberbatch as the gay genius mathematician was as brilliant as his ideas, but too bad, this year at the Oscars, he is up against Eddie Redmayne, who I think will win the Oscar for best actor.
Keira Knightley played Turing's fiance. (Yes, he was gay but he had a fiance. To find out why, you have to watch the movie.) Although Knightley was good, I wondered why she is nominated for an Oscar best supporting actress. Isn't there any other actress who deserved that nomination? Perhaps, if Tilda Swinton's Madame D character in Grand Budapest Hotel had more scenes and screen time, she would have bagged that nomination. I think Knightley's part could have been played more credibly by another British actress, Kate Winslet. But even with this nomination, Knightley has no chance of winning the Oscar. She's up against Patricia Arquette for Boyhood. Patricia Arquette, who plays a psychic who can see ghosts of dead victims who help her solve these crimes in the TV series Medium, will win the Oscar for best supporting actress on Sunday.
As it is set during World War II, the movie scenes of the bombing of London also reminded me The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe when the children living in London had to evacuate to the countryside to save them from the constant bombing. I almost thought I would be able to see the four kids from that Narnia movie among the crowd at the train station scene.
Benedict Cumberbatch also plays Sherlock Holmes on a TV series Sherlock. And in this film, he plays a complicated character whose abilities and genius helped win WW II for the Allies. I recommend you watch this film and learn about Alan Turing and the other unknown heroes who helped shorten the atrocities of that war.
