I remember being excited about Far From Heaven, a movie I was wildly enthusiastic about. And the score has at least three stunningly good songs. I was never less than engaged. But the conceit of the film -- stylistic homage to Douglas Sirk midcentury melodrama, so brilliantly executed by Todd Haynes -- had no translatable parallel. At the time, I assumed the addition of songs would be the stylization counterpart, i.e., people singing feelings would be the equivalent of heightened emotionalism. But it just felt like an earnest musical set in the 50s, and since it was via resources of musical theater, not film, the detachment in the film's visuals just seemed to be, you know, sets, lighting, costuming. The songs were often effective, yet as the evening wore on, and the story burrowed deeper into its intersectionality of issues, the results felt literalized, and it never rose above the outline of the plot.
But Days struck me as more potentially adaptable, simply because it is at heart an earnest story told with big, explosive emotions. Filmed with gritty reality that might be compelling in a theatrical iteration.I would think its best attribute would be the heartbreaking love story. I may be wrong again. |
