The Horse's Mouth (1958) :
Brief Review -
Gulley Jimson, a funny artist, who was so serious about art that he destroyed his own work before others could. Alec Guinness, a legendary British actor, wrote the screenplay for this film and also acted in the role. Well, now you know to whom this film belongs. It so happens that most of Alec's films I loved had great screenplays-or rather, better screenplays than storylines. The Horse's Mouth happens to be one of them. It has an ordinary story but a very good screenplay-especially the climax. One has to be an artist or an art lover to understand that subversive silent burn at the end. Gulley Jimson is quite an eccentric painter with scattered vision and a clueless career. However, the passion for painting is pretty strong and admirable. The film follows his journey after getting out of jail and how he goes on painting the wall, or walls. Although the film doesn't make much sense in the first half, the second half gets things going well. I'd mention the climax again because the headline of the review is based on it. It's really fantastic to see an artist value his work. So much that he wouldn't let others destroy it because it's too much of a big responsibility. "I had to do it," he says, adding that it's tough for others to "destroy the national monument". That last send-off without a proper conversion was really moving. The man who speaks about exploring everything in life through his art also has the dialogue, going this way: "Go and do something sensible, like shooting yourself! But don't be an artist!" Such poignant stokes he has given to the film with his screenwriting. Guinness is fabulous as an actor in the film, but I'd admire his writing skills more here. Maybe because I have seen a lot of acting and less of his writing. This one is purely his show, all the way. I took it on my watchlist as a comedy, got a bit bored because there was hardly any comedy, and the meaningful drama won me surprisingly. Do watch it.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest.
Gulley Jimson, a funny artist, who was so serious about art that he destroyed his own work before others could. Alec Guinness, a legendary British actor, wrote the screenplay for this film and also acted in the role. Well, now you know to whom this film belongs. It so happens that most of Alec's films I loved had great screenplays-or rather, better screenplays than storylines. The Horse's Mouth happens to be one of them. It has an ordinary story but a very good screenplay-especially the climax. One has to be an artist or an art lover to understand that subversive silent burn at the end. Gulley Jimson is quite an eccentric painter with scattered vision and a clueless career. However, the passion for painting is pretty strong and admirable. The film follows his journey after getting out of jail and how he goes on painting the wall, or walls. Although the film doesn't make much sense in the first half, the second half gets things going well. I'd mention the climax again because the headline of the review is based on it. It's really fantastic to see an artist value his work. So much that he wouldn't let others destroy it because it's too much of a big responsibility. "I had to do it," he says, adding that it's tough for others to "destroy the national monument". That last send-off without a proper conversion was really moving. The man who speaks about exploring everything in life through his art also has the dialogue, going this way: "Go and do something sensible, like shooting yourself! But don't be an artist!" Such poignant stokes he has given to the film with his screenwriting. Guinness is fabulous as an actor in the film, but I'd admire his writing skills more here. Maybe because I have seen a lot of acting and less of his writing. This one is purely his show, all the way. I took it on my watchlist as a comedy, got a bit bored because there was hardly any comedy, and the meaningful drama won me surprisingly. Do watch it.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest.