I've asked Tim to book the ticket once I got the CM from cinema.com.hk; went to watch it on Thursday the public holiday. It was quite a full house, surprisingly, though the house in fact is very small. Almost all audiences are English-speaking-people with exception of a middle-aged couple and two school girls, and of 'coz the two of us.
Not sure what moved them to the cinema but probably the history of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.
It's always hard to adapt a novel into playscript especially when it is a piece of 'history-related' work that you cannot omit certain historical reference, e.g. the fate of Mary Boleyn and William Stafford. The appearance of William Stafford is neither faithful to the novel nor the history (so far as I remembered, I didn't verify this). However, as the film has to have the role of Mr. Stafford for telling Mary's ending, it can only be created like this or it will introduce another branch of the story.
After watching the film, I had to admire even more the scriptwriter of Harry Potter and LOR. You will have no problem in following the story if you haven't read the book before; even if you have, you can still follow the adapted story and will not found uncomfortable.
However for this film, I found it quite difficult to trace and the texture and tension is not fully developed. Tim said he was totally confused and didn't really understand the "sudden" changes of the King or the sisters. :P
To treat it as a pure imaginery story, it is still hard to comprehend why the King will rather risk his reputation by pulling down the Queen and to marry Anne. The relationship between the two seemed not well developed and it is NOT persuasive enough. Oppositely the line between Stafford and Mary seemed better though it was totally different from the book. Maybe just like what I've done for my Translation course, it may be a better approach to rewrite the dubbing script when it is hardly self-explanatory in the target langauge. Here, the target language is "visual film within 2 hours" and the source langauge is "written book of 2 inches", this 'vertical' translation may best be done by "Rewrite in an acceptable sense" than "Omission". Omission will leave blanks to the story.
About the casting, Tim said he couldn't recognise Natalie Portman, dunno if this is a sign of good performance but at least it is a good try I would say.
For Scarlett Johansson, I really can't see Mary in her. Maybe the Scarlett in "Lost in Translation" fits more but not today's Scarlett.
George and Jane Parker's roles are quite eye-catching to me. Jane Parker is vivid!! And I love George's crying scene in prison and the scene he said NO to his marriage to Jane Parker; watch out his eyes. :P
One remaining eye-catching role to me is Stafford. I've never imagined Stafford like this but I like the way he looked at Mary, not really staring but looking into hers with his own deep thought and heart. Excellent! And only a simple look or glimpse, their line is vividly described :P
I really can't relate this Henry VIII to Eric Bana. This Henry looks more charming and younger than the actual Bana. This is my opinion.
So far it is a bit disappointed to be honest but I know it is hard to transform 2 inches to 2 hours. And now, I'd like to have a look at the BBC TV version and see if it's worth to buying it.
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