Board index › Topical Discussion › Television, Film, and Video

Is "Mozart and the Whale" worth watching?

Page 2 of 2 [ 31 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2

Previous topic | Next topic

faithfilly
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 27 Jan 2007
Gender: Female
Posts: 681
Location: New York State

21 Nov 2007, 3:17 pm

Reodor_Felgen wrote:
I liked the movie. But since it's a comedy, it's characters have caricatured personalities, and doesn't give a 100% realistic picture of Asperger's syndrome. Peter Næss have also directed a movie named Elling, which is about two autistic people. This movie is somewhat darker than Mozart and the Whale, but the characters are more realistic.


I agree with everything you're saying here. I just watched Elling last night (thanks to reading the post about it). I found Elling to be refreshing entertainment; plus, the story is wonderful. The actors do an excellent job of portraying what Asperger's Syndrome is like.


_________________
"Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word." – Isaiah 66:2


earthmom
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Nov 2005
Age: 65
Gender: Female
Posts: 686

22 Nov 2007, 9:38 pm

I watched Mozart and the Whale and didn't like it much. And didn't get some things in it. I didn't like the characters (and it's not Josh Hartnett's fault - I thought he did a good job) After that I watched it again with the commentary on and understood alot more. Then I watched it again without the commentary and really enjoyed it. Strange, huh?



Eire
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 1 Oct 2007
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 465
Location: California

22 Nov 2007, 9:42 pm

earthmom wrote:
I watched Mozart and the Whale and didn't like it much. And didn't get some things in it. I didn't like the characters (and it's not Josh Hartnett's fault - I thought he did a good job) After that I watched it again with the commentary on and understood alot more. Then I watched it again without the commentary and really enjoyed it. Strange, huh?


There's commentary on the DVD? I just returned it to the movie rental place, I wish I had known you could watch it with commentary.



earthmom
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Nov 2005
Age: 65
Gender: Female
Posts: 686

22 Nov 2007, 9:59 pm

Yes it was on the DVD.



sinsboldly
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Gender: Female
Posts: 13,488
Location: Bandon-by-the-Sea, Oregon

27 Nov 2007, 11:37 pm

Hans_Solo wrote:
Fogman wrote:
I thought that the characterisation in the movie was exaggerated.


Well, it was targeted at an American audience...



(Was that racist?)


No, an "American" is not a race.

We have a joke here.
If you speak more than one language, that's called bi ligual, if you speak one language, that's called an American.



ping-machine
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Age: 48
Gender: Female
Posts: 854

02 Dec 2007, 3:53 am

Worth watching even just for the opportunity to make up your own mind. :D


_________________
"We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune."


steelback
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 23 Dec 2006
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 332
Location: Windsor, Ontario, Canada

23 Jan 2008, 7:34 pm

I liked the movie, but it made me question whether I was really an Aspie, because I wasn't sure I could see myself in any of the characters--not just the two main characters, but the other members of the support group as well. But then again, it could just be the fact that it was a movie and you have to play up certain stereotypes in a movie. Besides, I usually prefer the book anyway, and I haven't read that one yet.



hadapurpura
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 May 2005
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 674

25 Jan 2008, 11:18 pm

I only saw a part of the movie (the final part), and I thought the main characters (Isabelle and ... Josh Hartnett?) were decently depicted. I saw a lot of me in both of them - of course, I saw things in them that are not in me, but everyone is different. However, the support group was really stereotypical.



Reodor_Felgen
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,300

26 Jan 2008, 8:16 am

hadapurpura wrote:
I only saw a part of the movie (the final part), and I thought the main characters (Isabelle and ... Josh Hartnett?) were decently depicted. I saw a lot of me in both of them - of course, I saw things in them that are not in me, but everyone is different. However, the support group was really stereotypical.


The supports group consisted mainly of Kanner's autistics. The only one of them who appeared even remotely high-functioning was Gregory.



Dreadneck
Butterfly
Butterfly

Joined: 7 Mar 2006
Gender: Male
Posts: 9

08 Feb 2008, 4:33 pm

I would say that it is a good romantic comedy if you have a dinner at home date with
a homebody NT girl and you have a hard time talking about AS.



little-bird
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

User avatar

Joined: 20 May 2006
Age: 49
Gender: Female
Posts: 149
Location: up the faraway tree

09 Feb 2008, 3:41 pm

I also think that Josh Hartnett ruined it.

I guess i think the film is a half-decent attempt. But still, I felt that it really only glossed over Aspergers and really played upon a whole shebang of stereotypes and cliches. In some ways it felt like a cop-out. Maybe it was more about focusing on the romance/relationship between the two central characters, but it just gets my back up when all the cliches are reinforced, rather than opening things up for more understanding in the general public, about aspergers.

i guess i feel a bit shirty about the movie because i was watching it with a nt friend whom i had not long before told that i was aspie. so sitting down and watching it, all the way through the movie, i'm thinking: does she realise that its just a dramatisation, its just cliche, it isn't always as black and white as that, the characters in this movie cannot sum up all aspies as a whole....



AnonymousAnonymous
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 23 Nov 2006
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 76,306
Location: Portland, Oregon

10 Feb 2008, 5:11 pm

This may be an interesting movie to watch on Valentine's Day. :?:


_________________
Silly NTs, I have Aspergers, and having Aspergers is gr-r-reat!


computerlove
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Age: 125
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,791

12 Feb 2008, 12:25 am

Space wrote:
It's not bad. Not amazing, but it's ok. It shows they are real people and capable of relationships. People knock it, but for being the only movie I have ever seen in my life with AS main characters, it is an ok start.


I saw again Benny & Joon not so long ago, nice movie, and now I think they have a little(?) bit of AS.


_________________
One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.


Trugen
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 619
Location: What is Perceived as Your Reality

16 Feb 2008, 5:05 pm

Hans_Solo wrote:
Fogman wrote:
I thought that the characterisation in the movie was exaggerated.


Well, it was targeted at an American audience...



(Was that racist?)


no, you stated a fact


_________________
Name: Yoshiyahu
Drive to Madness: Love..........and power!! !! !! !! !! !! !
Omni: Potent
Omni: Temp
Face of Madness: Myself :twisted:


Asterisp
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Dec 2007
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Posts: 898
Location: Netherlands

16 Feb 2008, 5:23 pm

I spent an evening watching the movie. But I was not really enthusiastic about it.

It was a bit over the top in some aspects. Especially the big role of the support group.