Apartments.com Cambridge Village Apartments 2 Bedroom in Bakersfield, CA
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Gosford Park (DVD) $18.5 In GOSFORD PARK, Robert Altman explores the English class system and master-servant relations via his preferred modus operandi of multiple characters and intertwining storylines, which he achieved so brilliantly in NASHVILLE. Featuring an all-star British ensemble cast, the film recalls both THE RULES OF THE GAME and THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, with a midpoint shift to an Agatha Christie whodunit. In November 1932, a phalanx of moneyed guests arrives for a weekend shooting party at the estate of Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas). Mary (Kelly Macdonald), a fresh-faced, naive new maid accompanies the sniping Countess of Trentham (Maggie Smith), and is shown the ropes by the house's worldly head housemaid, Elsie (Emily Watson). While the masters engage in various financial and sexual intrigues upstairs, the world downstairs has its own curiosities–namely, the predatory valet to a Hollywood producer, Henry Denton (Ryan Phillippe), and the mysterious, cagey servant, Robert Parks (Clive Owen). Mary soon discovers that the image of servants living vicariously through their masters is a false one, and that the upstairs-downstairs worlds are often shockingly interwoven. With GOSFORD PARK, Altman delivers a fascinating, blackly comic look at the treacherous yet poignant gamesmanship between the classes. |
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Gosford Park – Collector’s Edition $10.87 Rated: RSynopsis: After a long career as one of cinema’s most offbeat chroniclers of American culture, director Robert Altman turned his eye on England and made his best movie since his ?70s heyday. Gosford Park takes place on a grand English country estate in the 1930s. When the host of a weekend hunting party is murdered, everyone — well-heeled guests and servants alike — becomes a potential suspect in the ensuing investigation. An Agatha Christie-style murder mystery might seem unlikely material for Altman, but Julian Fellowes’s Oscar-winning screenplay is more interested in examining the intricacies of the British class system than it is in whodunit. Gosford Park also allows Altman to do two of the things he does best: subvert a familiar genre and orchestrate a large ensemble of actors, something he accomplishes here to dazzling effect. The dream cast includes Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Michael Gambon as aristocrats, and Helen Mirren, Emily Watson, Clive Owen, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi, and Richard E. Grant as servants. In the best Altman tradition, each character, no matter how limited his or her screen time, manages to create an indelible impression. Even pretty boy Ryan Phillippe, portraying a shady valet, delivers a surprisingly effective performance; the only weak link in the cast is Bob Balaban as a visiting Hollywood producer (ironically, Balaban co-produced Gosford Park). Altman uses his trademark techniques — a roving camera and densely layered soundtrack — to perfection here. Crucial information about the guests upstairs, who are never seen without a servant somewhere in the frame, is divulged through fleeting snatches of downstairs gossip. The result plays like a radical version of Upstairs, Downstairs in which the lives of servants and masters are fatally entwined. While not quite at the level of Nashville or the director’s other earlier triumphs, Gosford Park — which received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director — proves that the 70-something Altman hasn’t lost his punch. Kryssa SchemmerlingMaverick American filmmaker Robert Altman takes a witty and absorbing look at the foibles of the British class system in this intelligent murder mystery set in the early ’30s. Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and his wife Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas) are a pair of wealthy British socialites who have invited a variety of friends, relatives, and acquaintances to their mansion in the country for a weekend of hunting and relaxation. Among the honored guests are Constance (Maggie Smith), Lady Sylvia’s matronly aunt; Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam), William’s cousin who is also a well-known actor and songwriter; and Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban), an American film producer who is friendly with Ivor and researching an upcoming project. Observing the proceedings are the domestic staff of the mansion, including imperious butler Jennings (Alan Bates); footmen George (Richard E. Grant) and Arthur ( |
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Gosford Park $17.73 Gosford Park |
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