May I join, Susi?

My colleague(who I saw August Osage county with) went to see it last night.
I was telling her I was a bit cross, because an actor I follow had tweeted: Keira Knightley was brilliant in this...
But she has pointed out that possiblly he just meant he was pleasantly surprised at that, whereas he expected Benedict to be fab!

Last edited by besleybean (November 27, 2014 3:22 pm)

That's a shame, silverblaze, would have been nice to meet you. 

Well, there has been some discussion about this in different media, it was not only this journalist.
I am fine with the decision not to include such a scene because a) he never had a long-lasting relationship with anyone, b) he allegedly described Bletchley Park as a "sexual desert" and most of the film is placed in this time if I am not mistaken. And I would like to quote Benedict who said: "If you need to see this in order to believe that he is gay, then all is lost for subtle storytelling."
The relationship he was punished for was a casual sexual acquaintance with a young man who was in all probability not gay, did not love him and stole money from him. I do not think that to include that would have helped to show how extraordinary he was. And it is mentioned that he had sex with men. Not sure if one needs to see it. 
 

Last edited by SusiGo (November 27, 2014 4:02 pm)

Oh, I don't see the need for a sex scene in a film that is about a computer. I mean WTF? I think a scene like that would really distract the audience from the core story and themes of the film. Imagine having an explicit sex scene in that film, it would have become 'the film with the gay sex scene' instead of 'the film about cracking the Enigma code'. But maybe the journalists just got the genre wrong and thought it was a porn movie.  

Well, I  was exaggarating a bit.  I do know that it's about more than the computer (Turing machine). It's pretty weird, I first heard about Turing at uni, when I studied something to do with artificial intelligence. The Turing test is quite a big thing in AI. Only much later I heard that he was also the guy who cracked the Enigma code. I didn't even know he was gay before this film came out. 

Jack Copeland also wrote a book about Turing (it's called "Turing: Pioneer of the Information Age") and it's very good and well written but still Hodges book is so far the best source of information about Alan's life. Even if approximately half of the book is about mathematic stuff

Here's the review in The New York Times, which says that BC's performance "...makes his Alan Turing one of the year’s finest pieces of screen acting":

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/28/movies/the-imitation-game-stars-benedict-cumberbatch.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0#

There is also a short video segment where the director discusses the making of a scene and also a slide show of the premiere in New York.

SusiGo wrote:

For all those are waiting for the US release:

http://imitationgamemovie.tumblr.com/post/103836820625/isnt-it-supposed-to-be-out-today-the

Thanks. I was wondering about the why and when of a wide release for TIG. It's a long time for us to wait, since it's been out in the UK for a couple of weeks already? Sigh.

My wedding anniversary!

Sherli Bakerst wrote:

Here's the review in The New York Times, which says that BC's performance "...makes his Alan Turing one of the year’s finest pieces of screen acting":

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/28/movies/the-imitation-game-stars-benedict-cumberbatch.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0#

Thanks for the link.   Love the description of Benedict:

" If he did not exist, 21st-century popular culture would have to invent him: a sentient robot, an empathetic space alien, a warm-blooded salamander with crazy sex appeal."
 

Last edited by CarlPowers (November 29, 2014 5:43 am)