Atkins? At it like rabbits, more like...
02 December 2006 @ 23:23 in Life
A moment, please, for the acting giant, Christopher
Atkins. My wife and I have just finished watching
The Blue Lagoon (billed as
Passionate drama with Brooke Shields and
Christopher Atkins as adolescents who must
become self-sufficient on a desert island – and
deal with their burgeoning sexuality, so we
were intrigued), and it introduced us to this
most entertaining of actors. He's an exponent of
the 'wide waving arms = an accurate facsimile of
emotion' school of acting. Here, for example,
he's mid-strop, listing all the things that are
annoying him about his cousin Emmeline:
A few scenes later, and we see him mocking her pubescent body. All together now: "I've got a luvverly bunch of coconuts, [Da-na-na-ner-na], There they are standing in a row..."
The director is also rather fond of showing the young Atkins and his co-star Brooke Shields in the buff. Like, yer actual buff, not just artfully placed fern fronds and loin cloths. It all seems to be amazingly innocent, and the actors are remarkably mature in their handling of the nudity and sex scenes. In the spirit of keeping this blog family-friendly, the furthest I'll go is this grab, but you get the, er, point.
At only one point does the film get a bit hackneyed, and it's at the point apparently when Emmeline's sexuality awakes. Now, I never passed through puberty as a teenage girl, so perhaps female readers could enlighten me; do highlights on water turn neon blue?
Of course, they're marooned on a desert island, two randy teenagers, so they're soon bonking away merrily. It's a most entertaining film; partly because of the calibre of the acting – though an early near-cameo from one of my heroes Leo McKern does up the average ability quite a whack – but also for the slightly spacey plot and increasingly surprising naïveté. Now I just need to track down the 1923 and 1949 originals, the 1991 sequel starring the rather lovely Milla Jovovich, and the 1908 novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole wot started it all, and my emotional education will be complete.
A few scenes later, and we see him mocking her pubescent body. All together now: "I've got a luvverly bunch of coconuts, [Da-na-na-ner-na], There they are standing in a row..."
The director is also rather fond of showing the young Atkins and his co-star Brooke Shields in the buff. Like, yer actual buff, not just artfully placed fern fronds and loin cloths. It all seems to be amazingly innocent, and the actors are remarkably mature in their handling of the nudity and sex scenes. In the spirit of keeping this blog family-friendly, the furthest I'll go is this grab, but you get the, er, point.
At only one point does the film get a bit hackneyed, and it's at the point apparently when Emmeline's sexuality awakes. Now, I never passed through puberty as a teenage girl, so perhaps female readers could enlighten me; do highlights on water turn neon blue?
Of course, they're marooned on a desert island, two randy teenagers, so they're soon bonking away merrily. It's a most entertaining film; partly because of the calibre of the acting – though an early near-cameo from one of my heroes Leo McKern does up the average ability quite a whack – but also for the slightly spacey plot and increasingly surprising naïveté. Now I just need to track down the 1923 and 1949 originals, the 1991 sequel starring the rather lovely Milla Jovovich, and the 1908 novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole wot started it all, and my emotional education will be complete.
