Biographical movies and dramas about writers:
Tolkien (2019) - about JRR Tolkien
The Edge of Love (2008) - about Dylan Thomas
Set Fire to the Stars (2014) - about Dylan Thomas
Colette (2018) - about Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette
Wilde (1997) - about Oscar Wilde
The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) - about Oscar Wilde
My Salinger Year (2020) - about JD Salinger
Rebel in the Rye (2017) - about JD Salinger
Mary Shelley (2017) - about Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Gothic (1986) - about Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Shakespeare in Love (1998) - about William Shakespeare
Sylvia (2003) - about Sylvia Plath
Dickinson (2019-2021) - about Emily Dickinson
A Quiet Passion (2016) - about Emily Dickinson
Vita & Virginia (2019) - about Virginia Woolf
Becoming Jane (2008) - about Jane Austen
Miss Austen Regrets (2007) - about Jane Austen
Kafka (1991) - about Franz Kafka
Byron (2003) - about Lord Byron
Total Eclipse (1995) - about Paul Verlaine
Capote (2005) - about Truman Capote
Rowing with the Wind (1988) - about the Romantic Poets
Infamous (2006) - about Truman Capote
Quills (2000) - about Marquis de Sade
Neruda (2016) - about Pablo Neruda
Juana Inés (2016) - about Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Daphne (2007) - about Daphne du Maurier
Priest of Love (1981) - about DH Lawrence
Little Ashes (2008) - about Federico Garcia Lorca
Lope (2010) - about Lope de Vega
Howl (2010) - about Allen Ginsberg
The Last Station (2009) - about Leo Tolstoy
Young Goethe in Love (2010) - about Johann Goethe
Tom & Viv (1994) - about T.S. Eliot
Céleste (1980) - about Marcel Proust
Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012) - about Ernest Hemingway
Balzac: A Life of Passion (1999) - about Honore de Balzac
The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) - about Charles Dickens
Shirley (2020) - about Shirley Jackson
Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017) - about Alan Alexander Milne
Heart Beat (1980) - about Jack Kerouac
In the Heart of the Sea (2015) - about Herman Melville
Notes: Not all of the films on this non-exhaustive list are entirely “about” the lives of their respective writers to a tee. I cannot vouch for the accuracy or quality of all of these movies. I’ve only seen about 75% of these films personally. And yes, I know this list is very Westernized – I’m working on it.
59 notes
·
View notes
Jack and the Cockoo Clock Heart (2013)- Movie, Spoilers
HEHEHEHEHHEHHEHEHE
I watched this movie when I was a kid, tiny me, and I found it again because its songs kept worming around my head, and I'm so glad I did.
It starts with a our protagonist, Jack, being born in the coldest day on earth, his heart is frozen, so it is then replaced with a clock. It all starts from this, his heart. This movie is, in my opinion, a tragedy, but I think it's very debatable and interpretation-oriented.
The art style is very captivating, making everyone look like some sort of pristine doll. The backgrounds are very thought out and a highlight with how imaginative it is and how much it aids the story, especially regarding time-skips and travel. THE MUSIC IS AWESOME, I enjoyed this the MOST, it's very rhythmic, very thematic, and it explores multiple genres and atmospheres depending on what part of the story they're currently on. The MUSIC WAS MY FAVORITE, if nothing else just watch it for the melodies.
That being said the story is very captivating too, it's very motive driven, so it's very fast paced (including the dialogue, but I think it's because of the translation from French and not a choice to cut time) and every moment is key to the storytelling. Despite this quick pace, it is a slow burn, but they do a very good job of keeping it dynamic while keeping the tension of the main plot.
It is, however, a very sexual story, despite nothing being very explicit. The sister-figures of Jack are sex workers, when Jack meets his love interest (IMO most important part of the story, and best chorus, and very stunning atmosphere) he references tearing her dress to confetti with his teeth which ???? he's a kid in this moment so that was very confusing and weird, relationship between George Meliès and the two headed woman, and other instances of sexual innuendo achieved in many, many angles. I feel this is very notable, since Jack never is involved with anything. Being so enamored with Miss Acacia and his heart situation, we can probably assume he's a virgin, yet it doesn't stop the main and side romances from being very suggestive.
From what I hear the book is much more sexual, and the presence of it in his childhood in both book and movie is commonly tied to the sister-like sex workers, who are very open about their work and do share work stories in front of Jack.
Miss Acacia's powers are also never noted, which is strange because it isn't like every stranger walking the street suddenly sprouts thorns around their body or purple cones in their tits, it might've been very intentional though? I like the fact it was never a center of attention, and I think it really aids characterizing Acacia, pushing forward a fairly well-rounded character for the short amount of time. It helps us visually see her feelings, emotions, and intentions, kind of like wearing her heart on her sleeve.
On that same locomotive of thought, Joe has the same birthday as Jack, which is such a random piece of lore to drop, but giving it a bit of thought forms a solid idea. Jack was born on the coldest day on Earth, this is what caused for his heart to be mechanical, meaning that Joe was also born in that same coldness, but we don't see him walking around with his own pendulum, so why is that? Probably because, following the film's very direct and literal nature, his heart is simply cold, which pushes him to be as cruel as he is to Jack.
It might've been because it was 1 AM and because the beat might've scared me, but I really felt the final kiss in my chest, and I think the building up of the whole narrative really makes this such a good ending. If it's a good ending is probably debatable, but me personally I appreciated the direction in which it was taken, and that the tragedy was taken to the end, without letting go of the romantic plot for a second. It feels very complete, I guess. Even as he climbs the snowflakes, it feels very true to the story, that's probably why I like it so much.
Props to the whole team honestly they REALLY know how to make atmosphere, and the way they used those tools to convey storytelling is PHENOMENAL!!
I also see where and why the movie could be strongly disliked, if you end up hating it, but I thought it was fire.
I watched it here!
10 notes
·
View notes