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An Uncomplicated Man – A review of The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan

lrb.co.uk

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Re: An Uncomplicated Man – A review of The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan

#11

Post by petesergeant »

squidsoup wrote: post #7
bragh wrote: post #3

Fair enough about the other points. But this is a ridiculous "hot take": > There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible. Yes and if there were sex scenes, then the film would get criticized for having sex scene(s), not being able to tell the story of a Greek epic without turning it into erotica or something.

Greek mythology is full of sex, and the Odyssey is no exception.

The Odyssey is full of worrying about who might bang who, rather than actual sex.

Re: An Uncomplicated Man – A review of The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan

#15

Post by radu_floricica »

zooweemama wrote: post #13

I haven't seen it yet, but how do people feel it compares to Lord of the Rings as an adaptation?

I don't think it does? Nor is it trying to. LotR was something that happens once every 50 years - a movie series that's as good as the source material and holds quality over 3 movies (wonder why they didn't do the Hobbit as well). The Oddyssey is a summer blockbuster. A good one, I definitely recommend it, but far from memorable.

Re: An Uncomplicated Man – A review of The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan

#17

Post by seabombs »

zooweemama wrote: post #13

I haven't seen it yet, but how do people feel it compares to Lord of the Rings as an adaptation?

Funny you mention LotR, coming out of the theatre after watching The Odyssey I thought "man, if only Peter Jackson had made this".

The landscapes were often gorgeous, but otherwise I thought it was all a bit dull unfortunately. Can only imagine what it would have been like if someone as detail-obsessed as PJ took it on.

Re: An Uncomplicated Man – A review of The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan

#19

Post by throwaway3060 »

I am not an expert in this space, so hopefully an actual expert will come by and clarify, but I am pretty sure that "The current consensus [...] is that there was no such thing as ‘the sea peoples’" is just flat out untrue. (IIUC, what is the current consensus is that they did not "cause" the late bronze age collapse). That colors how I read the rest of the review.

Edit: Personally, I enjoyed that particular addition to the plotline, as unrealistic as it is.

Re: An Uncomplicated Man – A review of The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan

#20

Post by blitzar »

petesergeant wrote: post #12

I read about 2/3rds of this before giving up. People who are upvoting it: what are you getting from this review that I'm missing, exactly?

Reads like the author is getting paid by the word and using all of them
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