Monika’s Pensieve

{FILM DIARY}

Blow Dry (USA/UK/Germany, 2001)

Seen: 10th February 2009 (DVD)
Runtime: 84′
Director: Paddy Breathnach
Cast: Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson, Rachel Griffiths, Rachael Leigh Cook, Josh Hartnett, Bill Nighy, David Bradley
Production House: IMF Internationale Medien und Film GmbH & Co. Produktions KG, Intermedia Films, Mirage Enterprises, West Eleven Films
Plot: A family of hairdressers is broken up when the wife runs away with a female model. Ten years later they are reunited at the British Hairdressing Championships.

Scene from the Film

Impressions In Short
It’s amusing ;)

More About the Film
It’s written by Simon Beaufoy, who is the guy behind The Full Monty (and Slumdog Millionaire). And the story is beautifully written (it is also really ridiculous ;)).
I don’t think the film turned out as well as it could have based on the writing though. Still, it’s a nice, sweet and amusing film :)
It’s set in a small village in Yorkshire, which makes this a very strange cast for the film. I mean hearing Josh Hartnett trying for a Yorkshire accent is quite an interesting experience ;) In case you’re wondering - his accent got totally flamed on the imdb boards. I most certainly do not have a good ear for Yorkshire accents - I’ve not been around there, but nonetheless to me it seemed like Josh Hartnett could have been much worse ;) Not that it was good - he was slipping non-stop and rarely getting close to the right sound, but I honestly thought he’d be worse ;)
Quite apart from being curious about how Alan Rickman would sound with an American accent, I’ve always been curious what his attempt at a more localized or working class British accent would sound like and now I know ;) He just can’t do accents ;) I mean this one was much better than his attempt at an American one in Dark Harbor. He was slipping a lot, but at least this time he was producing a sound that seemed correct to me at the times he was on. Also, I had the impression that he did much better with short lines, the moment he had to speak for longer he’d slip. But I reckon that if they had had a dialect coach he would have probably managed it and when he was getting it right, he sounded nice. So I’m kind of hoping he eventually gets to do a more working class kind of character in a film on which the director insists on a dialect coach ;-P
It seemed pretty silly to me to take a very multinational cast like that (Rachel Griffiths, who is Australian, actually did a pretty good job I thought) and not get a dialect coach, but whatever.
Apart from the accents the cast is actually rather good, so don’t be put off ;) They do a good job on both the comedic bits and the more emotional ones.
And just to ramble on a little bit longer… Something this film got me thinking about is how come it’s always so much worse for a guy if the girl leaves him for a woman rather than another man ;) When you think about it rationally, it shouldn’t be, but somehow whenever I’ve seen situations like that represented on film, that’s how it seems to feel to the guy…

Recommended?
I think yes - maybe not very emphatically, but it’s fun and sweet.