Happy Birthday, Jean!

Viewing #15 - I'm only a week behind now!
Second time to see the movie downtown, on a rainy, cold weeknight. The theatre said patronage was way down, but our little section was well over half full. V good.

Gotta get a screen cap of one of those Frodo-looking-at-Gandalf moments--maybe the one either just before or just after he sets off the fireworks for the hobbit children following his cart and horse. It's partly the usual worship, but blended in with the sort of amused tolerance and strong affection one has for one's slightly eccentric great-uncle. I used to love that look, but lately I find it makes me tense up in anticipation of what is to come later. Which I guess explains why I have TWO versions of the Frodo/Gandalf shot in Moria (the oscar ad and the poster)--see below. Every time I see the movie, I'm also struck by the way Frodo implicitly trusts Gandalf--he holds out his hand for the ring when told to do so, even though he doesn't look like he believes it isn't hot; he drops to the floor almost simultaneously with Gandalf's shout of "Get down." He would (and does) go a lot further than Bree if Gandalf told him to.

Merry and his apples. Is the boy ever without one? Is there some significance to that?

Is that Rosie sitting with Sam at Frodo's table at the birthday party? There are two women there, but it's really hard to make them out. Took me many viewings to even *see* Frodo and Sam in the group shots during Bilbo's speech.

Merry (and to a lesser extent, Pippin) is so protective of Frodo, without really being told. During the escape, on Weathertop, and even afterwards--when Strider asks Sam to help him look for Athalos, Merry immediately take's Sam's spot at Frodo's side. The way the two move in to try to protect Frodo on Weathertop, after Sam is knocked aside, makes me want to hug them every time I see it. (And the way Frodo drops his sword without ever using it makes me want to smack *him*.)

Sir Ian McKellen's timing and phrasing is just so wonderful. I love the way he plays the scenes 1) when Frodo returns to Bag End after Bilbo's birthday party, and 2) when Frodo wakes up in Rivendell. Gandalf appears almost lost in thought, to the point where you expect Frodo to show more impatience (which, interestingly enough, he doesn't). A wizard is never late.... And he uses that pipe *brilliantly* to slow his delivery even more. If this performance isn't worthy of an Oscar, I don't know what IS.

Frodo in that council scene... I do love the sigh when he puts the ring down, but is that pain when the ring is hit by Gimli symbolic of more than just a lingering tie to it? Does he volunteer to take the ring to Mordor, in part, because he can't bear to be parted from it, especially when no-one immediately steps forward with a plan? He seems to take it back rather easily, all things considered. I wonder if he ever really thought he was through with it. He seems in pretty good spirits when all the shenanigans are taking place with the other hobbits joining the fellowship (but of course he's got Gandalf and Aragorn with him, both of whom he trusts implicitly). I love his face at Pippin's "Where are we going?"

Stupid question of the week (Lij fan category): Couldn't Bilbo have waited to go spastic over the ring until Frodo had finished taking off his shirt???


Did I invent this? I thought I saw, just for a second, a chain around Frodo's neck when he gets up after falling in the snow climbing Caradhras. Of course it's supposed to have fallen off... And then I thought I saw one shot just before the avalanche where suddenly Legolas is near the end of the line--of course he's supposed to be out in front, and he's back in place to pull Gandalf back from the edge.

I could use a few more minutes spent in Moria, to give us the idea of time passing. It's not readily apparent, at least at first, that Gandalf is lost, because we haven't really seen him leading them through and picking the passages they follow. And much as I like Gandalf's speech to Frodo, about making the best of the time that is given to us, I'm happy that they used a different version of it for Frodo's flashback at the end--the timing on the line is different, as is Ian's face. Much more effective than trying to make him find some "middle ground" reading that would work in both places.

Speaking of Moria--which always seems to bring me to Boromir--despite the fact that I miss seeing Boromir and Aragorn try to help Gandalf (as they did in the book), I like Boromir being there to restrain Frodo. In pretty much the entire Moria sequence, he is the primary comforter as Gandalf and Aragorn's attention is elsewhere. Frodo doesn't seem so much trying to escape Boromir's arm as he does holding on to it for support. I just wish the following shot wasn't so clearly the double instead of Elijah.