[daikokunyo]

i watched Kubrick's 1962 Lolita yesterday, because i'm supposed to compare the novel and the film in an essay for lit class.

1. i liked it better than the book. in the book, humbert's mocking gaze on absolutely everyone pissed me off because he's the shittiest piece of shit of them all. humbert was an annoying narrator in general, with his constant self-pity. in the movie, though, the mocking gaze isn't his, it's kind of the omniscient camera's. and most of the movie was the better for it, because it made everything comedy. even if it's not the feel-good kind of comedy. even if it's unkind comedy.

2. i was hoping that mockery would extend to humbert's stupid feelings for Lolita, but nope, they had to go melodramatise the so-called romance, and play melodramatic music when Lolita escaped him, when she refused him... that was some VERY disappointing directing. now i'm sitting here wondering whether the mocking gaze, too, wasn't the camera's throughout but switched to humbert at that point. tchah.