#dustfinger i love you but you do not deserve your wife

[schleierkauz]

roxane and dustfinger makes me go crazy like the DEVOTION. absolutely unparalleled, no one does it like them. they are so in love and happy and look after each other all the time. i would do anything to read about how they first met, their wedding, their life with their young daughters...

i know anon, i know - there's so much we only get tiny glimpses of.

the whole thing with basta's attack and the aftermath of it is already crazy ENOUGH but i need to know more. that one tiny line in i think inkspell about how roxane managed to convince dustfinger to live in a house inside ombra's city walls for one winter, to keep their children (or maybe just brianna at that point?) save... i lose it. cornelia. please-

[space-transgressor]

Yes, tell me more about Dustfinger!

(Spoilers for the first book of the Inkheart trilogy. And under a read more because I couldn’t stop talking)

SO. Dustfinger.

Poor guy comes from a basic “medieval fantasy” book where he was a simple fire-eater, with bits of magic and fire speaking in the mix because fuck it, we’re a magical universe, it happens. So, through more magic shenanigans, he finds himself and two awful bastards (who he used to work for but now want him super dead) in our world, in front of a screaming guy with a sword.

He manages to make it out of there without shitting his pants, and is greeted with the lovely sights of 21st century Europe. Can you imagine how fucking scary trucks must look if you come from a medieval period ? So he manages to survive mostly by being a hobo then trying some fire shows for a while, while also going back often to the first guy he met in our world to have this conversation :

“Hey bring me back in our world I’m fucking dying here” 

“Can’t”

 “Pls”

 “Can’t”

“Then how tf did you bring me in if you can’t bring me back”

“shrugs”

So while he just came back from one of those Very Useful trips, one of the two fuckers that came with him is like “Hey yo, so if you just track that guy’s moves and tell us where he’s going to live, we can send you back home. Totes.” So he accepts and gets the guy and his family captured and then discovers that the obvious villains obviously didn’t have his best interests in heart, didn’t have any plans to bring him back and want to destroy every mean he has to do so.

Obviously this gets him a little smad. So for the second part of the book he alternates between helping the nice guys because hey, they didn’t deserve this shit, and trying to not raise the bad guys’ suspicions. All of this while both sides treat him like fucking garbage, calling him a fucking traitor, untrustworthy, outsider that shouldn’t even be here anyways, AND suffering at least 3 cases of “Yeah actually there’s still a way we could get you back. PSYCHED !”

Eventually, they figure out some shit about how some people can make book characters pop in our reality and how some people go in their world in “trade”, yadda yadda, it’s explained better in the book, and they figure the best way to learn shit about the book would be to ask the author ! So they go at his place and Dustfinger’s all like “Yeah I really don’t want to meet this guy, it’d be kinda like meeting my dad but also not making me real ? It’d just be really uncomfortable” and the other people seem to understand, so they go meet the author without him, yet still mention his existence to the author who’s like “Holy shit. I created this guy and now he’s alive. I gotta see him.”

And most of the people think it’d be a bit disrespectful, but the author doesn’t give a damn and tries to “trick” Dustfinger into thinking he’s just an innocent bystander trying to talk to him. It fails horribly. And of course, the author gets really patronizing, treats him more like a thing than a human and then casually slips something like “Oh man, I’m really sad I ended up killing you”. Understandably, Dustfinger freezes and the guy just calmly rambles about the oh so pretty death scene he wrote for him. 

Can you imagine that shit, anon, being treated like you’re basically not real by someone that sees himself as your god and creator and then being told that you’re just supposed to eventually die a rather miserable death simply because he enjoyed that better than seeing you happy with your family ?

So he fucks off outta there, some more shenanigans that I won’t develop happen, (but he basically realizes that he’s been in love with the (lost) wife of the guy that put him into all that trouble in the first place so that’s nice), and the book ends with most of the bad guys dying while some people get teleported in the book, but of course Dustfinger stays in our world because good things aren’t allowed to happen to him, and he has to be the babysitter of some random kid that got teleported from another book in our world and now won’t stop following him.

If this book had been written some centuries ago, Dustfinger would’ve been a Greek tragedy hero and I will keep this opinion beyond death.

Anyways, I really love this guy, the almost “doomed” aspects of his backstory, his wish to go back somewhere where he fucking belongs while always having to juggle between how people see him, what’d be best for him and the “greater good”, the sick fire tricks I haven’t mentioned because this took already forever to type, and also he has a pet marten with horns because that’s just wonderful.

That was a lot of ramble, and I could still develop some shit :p

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #165 - Inkheart

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Generally.

Do I remember it: Generally.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: No.

Format: Blu-ray

1) I never read the books. Blasphemy, I know, but I tried the first one when I was younger and couldn’t get too far into it. I love the concepts in this film though so I might have to revisit it.

2) Brendan Fraser as Mo.

Brendan Fraser was author Cornelia Funke’s inspiration for the character of Mo in the novels, dedicating the second novel in the trilogy to him and sending him a signed copy. The filmmakers wanted a bigger star to play the part but Funke fought for him and I honestly think Fraser is a standout aspect of this film.

There is a subtle sorrow to Fraser’s performance which permeates everything he does. It’s so fundamentally different from his more famous roles like Rick O’Connell from The Mummy or any of his screwball comedy roles like George of the Jungle. There is this constant heartbreak to the character, a care and empathy in everything he does that makes you fall in love with him. The film I think is largely ineffective in a lot of ways (not necessarily bad, but ineffective), however I think one thing it does very well is Brendan Fraser as Mo.

3) Eliza Bennett as Meggie.

I like her. I haven’t seen Bennett in much else (apparently she was in “Broadchurch” which I did not realize) but I think she brings a nice sincerity to Meggie. Her relationship/chemistry with Fraser’s Mo is honest and a strong aspect of the film. But the fact that’s really all I have to say about the character/actress in this movie gets to the film’s larger problem as a whole: it feels half done.

4) Paul Bettany as Dustfinger.

Bettany is one of the strongest character actors there is and gives a delightful performance as Dustfinger. While I believe Fraser is great in this film and (as stated above) a standout element, I think Bettany is the best part. He is compelling as Dustfinger, interesting. There’s a lot of humor and fun we can see in the part that I don’t always get to see from Bettany and I think it’s great. It’s great to see him play a character who is fundamentally a bit more selfish and cowardly, it’s great to see his empathy, it’s great to see him struggle with his flaws in an attempt to overcome them, it’s fun seeing him just REACT to certain thing. I love Bettany in this film and if I remember one thing better than anything else it’s him.

5) I mentioned before that this film feels half-done, and I think that largely relates to issues of pacing. The novel is about 534 pages, longer than the first Harry Potter novel. Yet the film is just short of two hours and I think the pacing suffers from that as well. It very much can feel at times “go from A to B to C to D” etc instead of an organic way to move through the world with these characters. Since we take very little time to understand a lot of these characters, their motivations, or this world (specifically with Capricorn, although I do love Andy Serkis) nothing leaves much of an impact. This movie is not a bad one, I don’t think. I think it’s a middling one and I think it’s greatest misfortune is that it isn’t very effective. I mean I saw this in theaters when it first came out and I remember very little of what actually happens until it is happening.

6) Helen Mirren as Elinor.

I think one of the key reasons this film isn’t a disaster, persay, is because of the acting talent. There’s not a weak performer in the bunch and that includes Mirren. She is able to make Meggie’s Great Aunt Elinor immediately strongly. You understand who she is and what’s valuable to her within five minutes of meeting her. She comes off as kind of a prick but not an irredeemable one. And - like Dustfinger - she develops sort of nicely throughout the film. I just wish we had a bit more time to explore how she goes from, “I’m a shut in bookworm,” to, “I’m going to save my family of my own volition,” other than just sort of seeing her start and end in those places (if that makes sense).

7) I know WHY Mo is telling Meggie not to do this, but the very concept of the line makes me uncomfortable.

Mo: “You make up stories? Meggie, you know I don’t want you doing that.”

8) The nicest peek into Meggie’s character is when she’s around books. Well, a book initially. How she is able to identify Elinor’s “Persian manuscript”. There is this overwhelmingly strong sense in the beginning of the film of love for books and storytelling in general. Elinor’s quote above (in the GIF I used) gets to that. Meggie’s feeling of safety in the library too. Unfortunately I feel we lose that a little as the film goes on. We lose the fantasy and wonder books can have as we progress. Which is unfortunate, because it’s a great part of the film.

9) I have to say, although I think the pacing of the film is off, the atmosphere is something I am very found of. It is romantic, fantastic, mysterious, and grounded in a sense of reality. This is a world I can feel which is alive and exists and shows great care on the filmmakers (specifically the cinematographer and production design team) to craft the world of Inkheart.

10) So Capricorn’s mean burn books. In big stock piles like it’s freaking WW2. This pisses me off in 2017 way more than it should.

11) I’m Meggie in this situation.

Mo [to Meggie, after being captured by Capricorn]: “Children always escape in books.”

Meggie: “No they don’t. Remember the little match girl?”

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

12) Andy Serkis as Capricorn.

Andy Serkis is one of the finest actors working today who very rarely gets the recognition he deserves due to his focus in motion capture work. But here in a live action role Serkis is just as dedicated to the part as he would be to Caesar or Gollum. It’s unfortunate that the script can’t develop Capricorn past the stereotypical Lex-Luthor-type who wants to take over the world just because. But Serkis still makes him a fun character to watch, delightfully evil despite (or perhaps because) of this fact. He’s also got some surprising humor to him.

Capricorn: “What’s that sticky stuff called?”

Basta: “Duct tape?”

Capricorn: “Yes. Duct tape. I LOVE duct tape!”

13) Remember how I said this film is largely ineffective? Well, the fact that Meggie’s lost mom/Mo’s lost wife is a mute maid imprisoned by Capricorn should be very memorable to me. And I totally forgot about that until watching this film.

They’re able to give Resa a strong personality/flavor to her from the start, despite the fact she spends most of the film unable to use her primary means of communication. But through her choices and physicality she comes across clearly. Also is it me, or does she look like something out of The Handmaid’s Tale?

14) Okay, question: is Farid from the book?

Because even though I think the actor does a really nice job, in the film the character feels a little extra. He adds a nice bit of levity and forms a surprisingly fun relationship with Dustfinger, but beyond that? Does the movie really need him?

15) Jennifer Connelly cameo!

Connelly is the wife of Paul Bettany (the actor who plays Dustfinger) and gets to appear as his wife in brief flashbacks in the film. Fantasy fans will be aware that this isn’t the first time she’s played in a fairytale world...

16) One of the most interesting things about Dustfinger is his internal conflict. Specifically, the conflict he feels over being fictional. He doesn’t LIKE being selfish, he doesn’t like being a coward, and he doesn’t like that his ending is so plainly written out for him.

Dustfinger: “Do you know the end of your story, Meggie?”

He wants to define himself but he doesn’t know if he has it in him as someone else wrote who he is.

17) Jim Broadbent as the in-world author of Inkheart, Fenoglio.

I love how damn giddy he is to meet Dustfinger, if a little naive about it.

Fenoglio: “This must be what it feels like to give birth.”

(GIF originally posted by @superheroinejewel)

But he also shows a common idea among author’s: death is a plot device. He says he killed of Dustfinger because, “they can’t all have happy endings,” and that the story needed tension.

How many times has your favorite character died as a way to, “add tension?” How many times has it felt cheap and not a fitting end to that character’s story?

There are authors out there who put plot before character, and while I understand that I disagree with it. Because if you do that then character’s will do things which are out of character or that don’t make sense just because the plot needs them to. I personally prefer to create characters first and develop the plot around them and their choices.

18) The next few notes I made about this are just quotes that were strong for me but I already talked about why for each one (Dustfinger’s character, Fenoglio’s joy over meeting his characters, etc.). So I’m just going to move on.

19) Oh dear god. I just realized how applicable this is to Brendan Fraser’s character in the film.

(GIF originally posted by @pladpuss)

20) So when Capricorn has Meggie reading from him we see things she read out of the book like Cinderella’s slipper and the Sword in the Stone. One thing that caught me by surprise was Ebenezer’s Scrooge headstone, largely because it looks almost EXACTLY like the one my school used when we did A Christmas Carol a few years back. But that’s mostly a personal thing.

21) As someone who hopes to be a published writer someday, this line is very striking for me.

It’s very true, of most authors actually. People read as a way to escape well writers write as a way to escape. That’s why so many of us are not the most social of beings. I almost wish the film didn’t end with Fenoglio being read into his own book though. It would’ve been much more powerful for me to see him work to try and live in the real world. I think that would’ve been better but also it makes sense for his character to want to do that.

22) For me the whole film has lost so much steam by the final climax. I’m sort of bored by it and I think it ties into the fact that I don’t really care. I don’t care about Capricorn’s plans or The Shadow. I care that Mo gets his wife back and that Dustfinger gets to go home, that’s it. But this giant generically designed ash monster? Not really.

23) I know want to see a Lord of the Rings film where Helen Mirren gets to play Gandalf. Why?

24) That’s about it. Good guys win. Meggie gets her mom back. Dustfinger gets to go home. And “My Declaration” sung by Eliza Bennett (a sweet song that I have powerful nostalgia for) plays over the end credits.

Inkheart is fine, it’s okay. It has a number of strong performances to it (with Fraser, Bettany, and Serkis as the standouts) but it is sort of messily written. I mean it’s not BAD it’s just not very memorable. The world is nice, the pacing is off. If you want to watch it, go for it. Otherwise I don’t really think you’re missing anything, personally.

[schleierkauz]

The Color of Revenge: Chapter 2

Here we go again! Please tell me if you find any mistakes, share your thoughts and enjoy! <3

Chapter 2: Five good Years

The night sky was burning. Dustfinger loved to set fire to the darkness. His flames were red flowers, blooming between the stars like poppies in a field of bittercress.

Fenoglio stood at the window and enjoyed the view. He’d moved back under Minerva’s roof a few months ago. The simple chamber was still the best home and the view was so much more spectacular than that from the castle – especially during nights like these when Dustfinger was setting the stage for his beautiful wife. Whenever Roxane danced for her Ugliness, she did it under a fiery sky.

Dustfinger and Roxane… Fenoglio had given up on calling them his creation a long time ago. He no longer believed that it was possible to create people and the worlds they lived in with nothing but words. It was possible to trap them, yes. Catch their echo in the sounds of consonants and vowels. But create them? No. Life itself wasn’t born out of ink. The fingers of a giant had made Fenoglio humble, a forest track littered with the corpses of soldiers and, crucially, the daughter of the Adderhead, whose wise regency he hadn’t foreseen when he’d written about a lonely, ugly little girl.

But even if the fabric of this world wove itself (or had a weaver who preferred to stay hidden), Fenoglio still liked to hear people call him the Inkweaver, their voices full of awe (or a little afraid). The title stroked his ego and after all: From time to time he still managed to add some embroidery to the cloth of this world.

There! Dustfinger’s flowers spat fiery seeds into the dark velvet of the night. A swarm of swans flew across the sky, their wings emitting white sparks. The Fire-Dancer was very creative when it came to staging the performances of his wife. Violante asked Roxane to dance for her almost every month. The gates of Ombra’s castle were wide open during those nights and people came from far and wide to see the woman who danced with the fire.

A few times Fenoglio had been part of the crowd but these days he preferred the view from Minerva’s window. It was still cold even though March was almost over and Fenoglio’s aging bones resisted every word he wrote to keep the rheumatism out of his joints.

Roxane’s herbs were way more effective, which was more proof of the true roots and realities of this world. Ah, Inkweaver, you’re getting old. That’s not pleasant anywhere and Fenoglio longed for no place but Ombra. Sometimes he did miss his newspaper in the mornings or the strong coffee he used to enjoy three times a day. The fact that the coffee bean had yet to find its way to Ombra was outrageous. Wine and tea – that was all anyone could find at the markets. Ah well, one can’t have all. Unfortunately, Fenoglio had always struggled to accept that rule.

He frowned when there was a knock at his door. It sounded as if someone was striking the wood with the neck of a bottle and without much patience. Heavens, this glass man would splinter himself one day!

Fenoglio still maintained that the glass men were his creation, even though Meggie liked to tease him with the wild ones who lived in the woods surrounding Ombra. Admittedly, they were not interested in sharpening quills and disproved his claim that he had invented the species solely to assist poets. But no matter who had created them: It was a fact that their ridiculous high voices were so shrill it was almost impossible to understand them. Especially when they were excited. Which was a good reason to agree with the widely held opinion that glass men in general were a ridiculous concept and completely unnecessary.

“Slow down! How many times do I have to tell you?“ Fenoglio snapped at Rosenquartz while he closed the door behind him. “What is it this time? A cow pie on the street? A chicken that tried to peck you? One day you will shatter losing your mind over some inanity!”

Outside, Dustfinger was celebrating his wife’s talent and beauty by letting the fire paint Roxane’s dancing silhouette into the sky. Her hand reached for the moon as if it were a silver ball.

“That smoky gray louse…!“ Rosenquartz panted. “I was so sure I’d never have to see his ugly face again. Nothing but a pile of broken glass, that’s what he deserves to be! Glass shards in the excrement of a mangy dog!”

Who was he talking about? The glass man he was competing with over the favor of the glass woman Rosenquartz had been courting for weeks? Although, no, that one wasn’t gray but violet (an unfortunate color for a glass man).

“Well, I hope you’re not planning on starting any fights with your rival,“ Fenoglio said and stepped back to the window. “With broken arms you would be useless for me as well as for you pale yellow crush.”

The needle holder who had caught Rosenquartz eye was working for Beatrice Sommavilla, a seamstress who had turned the heads of almost all the human men in Ombra. Even Fenoglio had written her love poems… There was no fool like an old fool…

“You’re not listening! As usual!“ Rosenquartz hissed as he climbed onto the chest of drawers under the window with the agility of a spider. He hated having to look up at Fenoglio when they argued – which, of course, he still had to do from his new position. Ridiculous little creature. But his climbing skills were truly exceptional.

“Your kind never listens!“ he shrieked. “All that space in your plump heads – wasted! You want to know what it is? I saw Ironstone! I hope you still remember that name? He was Orpheus’ glass man! He was sitting on the shoulder of a man who looked even more devious than himself and he was staring at the Fire-Dancer like he was trying to burn holes into his skin!“

Outside, Dustfinger let his fire die and the night turned to ash.

“Nonsense, I’m sure you’re wrong.“ Fenoglio hated the tremor he could hear in his own voice. “One glass man looks like the next, that’s it. And god knows gray isn’t the rarest of colors.”

Rosenquartz gasped. “One glass man looks like the next?!“

The ensuing tirade about Fenoglio and the human race in general seemed endless. All that time Rosenquartz spent at the tavern by the market made him rebellious. The innkeeper kept a dozen tiny chairs on her counter, as well as thimbles filled with her cheapest wine. In return the glassy idiots wrote down all those titillating songs she wrote for the strolling players.

Rosenquartz was still throwing a fit over his human audacity. Oh, his shrill little voice! It cut right into Fenoglio’s old ears. But what if the glass man wasn’t wrong? The thought filled Fenoglio’s stomach with stones. He felt as if the seven little kids had come for him.

The last time he’d heard Orpheus’ name had been almost exactly five years ago, the day Meggie’s younger brother Dante had been born. Only then had Mortimer finally told them all the details of what had happened at the Castle in the Lake.

Five years…

They had celebrated Dante’s birthday three days ago. His mother had drawn all his favorite creatures for him (forest spirits, nymphs, glass men – and dogs) and his father had bound them into the most beautiful book ever owned by a five year old. His sister, who preferred needle and thread over words these days, had given him a tiny replica of the cloak the Black Prince wore. Meggie’s boyfriend Doria had whittled him a carriage that drove all by itself and Dustfinger… Yes, of course Dustfinger had made the boy forget all about those presents by sending him a dog made of fire.

Stones in his stomach…

Five years. Five gorgeous, magical years. No. Orpheus and his devious glass man were dead. That’s what Fenoglio had told himself during all those years whenever his thoughts had drifted towards the Cheeseface. He had to believe it.

Still, he spent a sleepless night. The sky above Ombra’s rooftops was alarmingly dark without Dustfinger’s fires and the morning was as pale and gray as the glass man who had stolen Fenoglio’s sleep.

Even Minerva’s children were still asleep when he saddled the horse the Black Prince had given him. The whole town was asleep and the hills he rode through were painted silver with dew. It clung to thousands of spiderwebs. Glimmering death traps…

Heavens, he tried his best to think a single positive thought but he just couldn’t come up with one!

Rosenquartz had already left last night to search for the man whose shoulder Ironstone had been sitting on. He would ask the other glass men to keep an eye out for the stranger and Fenoglio had sent messages to the Black Prince and Mortimer.

But he wanted to deliver the concerning news to Dustfinger in person. After all, there was no one Orpheus hated more than the Fire-Dancer. Not to mention the fact that Fenoglio never missed a chance to visit Roxane. Her beauty let him believe in the perfection of this world, if only for a few precious moments.

But Roxane wasn’t home when Fenoglio arrived at the plain house where she lived with Dustfinger. Of course. She liked to collect the herbs she traded with when the leaves were still damp with dew. Fenoglio had to admit that he missed the tasteless pills of his world whenever he drank Roxane’s bitter infusions – even though they often worked better. Roxane always sent knowing smiles his way that made his old cheeks blush.

Ah, her smile… Despite everything that had happened to him, Dustfinger could still count himself lucky. And not just because of the woman who loved him. Whoever had spun the thread of his destiny, the Fire-Dancer was absolutely magnificent since he had returned from the dead. A breathing flame, in peace with life and what came after.

He stood in front of the house with Jehan, Roxane’s son from her second marriage. Jehan was apprenticed to a blacksmith in Ombra. He already had a reputation of creating wonderful things out of iron. All the things his stepfather had taught him about fire probably helped.

Fenoglio was sure that they could see that he was bringing bad news. He still found himself searching Dustfinger’s face for the scars he had described so long ago - but the White Women had erased every trace of pain life had ever left in the Fire-Dancer’s features. In his face, Fenoglio found nothing but secrets he had no words for.

They listened silently as he told them about Rosenquartz’s discovery.

“We have to find the glass man,“ Jehan said “and find out if his master is still alive. And if he is, he has to tell us where he’s hiding.”

“How could you know if he’s telling the truth?“ Dustfingers gaze was even more mysterious since he’d returned from the White Women. It made Fenoglio self-conscious. I know everything about you, you old fool, it seemed to say.

“Oh, he will,“ Jehan said. “As soon as I hold him over my forge!” He must have inherited the hot temper from his biological father. Dustfinger just shook his head.

“Your mother wouldn’t like such methods one bit.“ A tiny flame grew in his hand.

“No. Should we find him, we have to pretend to let him go. That way, if Orpheus is still alive, he will lead us to him. All these years, I’ve searched for him in the fire. But it couldn’t find him – which means that if he’s really still alive, he fled to a land where my fire is blind.”

Stones in his stomach…

Fenoglio imagined wild places, foreign and dangerous. Lands that knew nothing of his words or Dustfinger’s fire. Automatically, he looked to the horizon. For the first time, the vastness waiting behind it made him feel afraid.

The flame in Dustfinger’s hand vanished. Ash painted the silhouette of a dancing woman onto his skin.

“I’ll talk to the Prince,“ he said. “Jehan is right. We have to find this glass man.”

Five years. They all felt it. A new story was stirring. A new one – yet the old one all the same.

(Next chapter)