Caravaggio

While waiting for one of those Zoom meetings, I sat down to watch “Caravaggio.”  Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was a painted who lived from 1571 to 1610.  Nigel Terry, who was King Arthur in John Boorman’s “Excalibur,” played Caravaggio, while Sean Bean is Ranuccio, and Tilda Swinton, in her first film, is Lena.  Tilda Swinton was born in 1960 and thus is older than I am.  The film contains anachronisms, noticeably a character using an electronic device, a calculator.  I don’t know why these elements were thrown into the film.  They are distracting, and I didn’t see the meaning of it.  The movie certainly looked beautiful, and I thought it was amusing to see models attempting to stay still as they pose for paintings.  I thought that as a biographical work, the film did not tell us too much.  I was most interested in watching Tilda Swinton, as she looked like three or four different women.  I wondered how she could stay so still in her last scene.  Robbie Coltrane of the Harry Potter films made an appearance, although I hardly noticed him.  Another famous person in the cast was Nigel Davenport, who was in “A Man for All Seasons” and “Chariots of Fire.”  The film was interesting, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it again, although I think I’d rather watch “Moulin Rouge” or “Lust for Life.”  I like those actors of my youth, like Jose Ferrer and Kirk Douglas.  When I look at Tilda Swinton’s credits, I didn’t see very much after “Caravaggio” that I knew much about until “Adaptation” in 2002.  I had forgotten that she had won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Michael Clayton.”  I guess I think of her now for the Wes Anderson films and for being the Ancient One in the Marvel films.  I did not know much about the director Derek Jarman until I did a bit of research after watching this film.  He worked as a production designer on Ken Russell’s “The Devils.”  He made “Jubilee,” and he directed Laurence Olivier’s last screen performance in “War Requiem” in 1989.  He was dying of AIDS as he made “Blue” in 1993.  He was 52 when he died on February 19, 1994.  He was known for being a film director, a gay rights activist, and a gardener.  Some of the people who died on September 7 include Karen Blixen (1962), Keith Moon (1978), James Clavell (1994), and Warren Zevon (2003).  Today is a birthday for Corbin Bernsen (66) and Gloria Gaynor (71).  According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for September 7, Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles were married in 1943.  In 1963, the American Bandstand television program was moved from weekdays to Saturday afternoons.  In 1978, Keith Moon died of an overdose of the sedative Herminervin.  In 1979, ESPN was launched with SportsCenter.  In 1985, John Parr had the Number One single “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion).”  In 1991, the cartoons “Back to the Future” and “Little Shop” debuted.  Also in 1991, Harry Hamlin married Nicollette Sheridan.  In 1997, Tupac Shakur was shot in Las Vegas.