Ulysses

Ulysses
by Joseph Strick

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DVD Reviews of Ulysses

DVD Review: 2.5 stars for the film, 1 star for the disc
Summary: 2 Stars

It is not without virtues, though, for Joyceans and otherwise. It was filmed, in luscious black and white, on location, but no effort was made to hide the relative modernity of 1967 Dublin and the post-Victorian trappings of the setting are limited to Milo O'Shea's hat. That fact alone makes the film interesting. It also boasts some amusing directorial asides courtesy of talented dilettante Strick, such as the very subtle insertion of Joyce's headlines into the newspaper scene.

Many of the performances are good, and some are indelible: Milo O'Shea is vulnerable, attractive, awkward, comic, tragic, and sometimes simply naturalistic in a tour de force performance that deserved an Oscar and remains his greatest-ever screen showing. To say nothing of his eyebrows, which spread more joy than Molly Bloom's behind. As well, TP McKenna is wonderful as a puckish, hedonistic Buck Mulligan. But most of the cast are too old for the roles they've taken, and some come off poorly, in particular a lead-footed Maurice Roeves as Stephen Dedalus. Joyce fans will likely enjoy a few of the setpieces - the opening in the Martello Tower is nicely handled, and the Cyclops chapter is agreeably deconstructed - but loathe others, especially the appallingly stiff Proteus monologue.

Those without any familiarity with the book will likely be lost, and while Molly Bloom's closing monologue is beautifully mounted, outside the context of the novel it has nothing to do with the rest of the film, and it's over a half hour long. The episode in the whorehouse is even longer, underscoring Strick's disagreeably prurient approach to the material. That being said, although this film was banned in Ireland until recently there's little in it that will offend contemporary tastes. This marks the first use of the F-word in a mainstream film, as far as I know, and there's some brief male nudity in the form of Mulligan's mulligan. The rest could play unedited on generally puritan US daytime TV.

In general I'd recommend that fans of sixties cinema and Joyceans see this film at least once, but I cannot in good conscience recommend Image Entertainment's insultingly sloppy (and absurdly overpriced) DVD. The picture quality and color is dreary, with chalky whites, fuzzy grays and pockmarked blacks. There is visible flicker in the top-right corner at all times, and even more pronounced flicker accompanying _every single edit_, especially early in the film. The dialogue is mono and muffled and there are no closed captions or subtitles, making the film a tough slog for those who haven't already memorized the (generally faithful) Joycean dialogue. Nor, for that matter, are there any other supplemental features, of any kind! The film is split up into huge, twenty-odd minute blocks, not useful for skipping.

Upsetting both Joyce fans and the Joyceless, Strick's Ulysses has always been a film without an audience. Image's lazy package, and $49 list price, aren't helping it find one.

Description of Ulysses