Director : Steve Bendelack
Main Casts: Rowan Atkinson, Max Baldry, Steve Campos,
Emma De Caunes
Watched: 5th May, 2007. Saturday 11:55pm
Cinema: TGV, One Utama (Box 2)
When you’re down and troubled
And you need a helping hand
And nothing
Nothing is going right
Close your mind
And look at me
And soon you will be here
And I’ll brighten up
Even your darkest night
Austin Powers, Jim Carrey or Bean
All you got to do is watch
And I’ll be here
You’ve got a friend…
(1)
And you need a helping hand
And nothing
Nothing is going right
Close your mind
And look at me
And soon you will be here
And I’ll brighten up
Even your darkest night
Austin Powers, Jim Carrey or Bean
All you got to do is watch
And I’ll be here
You’ve got a friend…
(1)
People tell me about the tranquilizing effects movies can have on them. For me, it’s probably more a therapeutic relief to a troubled soul.
The late night shows listed available told me & buddy that Bean’s Holiday will be our best bet. Then, when the lights went down, and my back slumped spinelessly into the cinema seat; with my very dear buddy stuck by my side… I was ready for the midnight show.
Uncanny Regression
I got sick of Bean’s cameo retarded stupidity and when I was young. And I think that explains why I didn’t rush to this show when it got released. Being 10 years older now, watching him again in a bigger mind actually brought back quite a bit of nostalgia. Along the movie, I would be reminded of some old scenes from the TV episodes that I used to watch with my family, remembering the tickles we all had when Bean’s acting humoured us.Misunderstanding Comedy
I have always been amazed at coffee making machines. It’s fascinating, for me at least, to just press a few buttons and see your cup filled slowly with fresh brewed coffee – it’s just plain simple & easy. For most people I guess, comedies seem to be that way too. They fascinate us; and the stories are plain simple & easy to follow. Yet, in the case of coffee machines, we sometimes miss the fact that before the black liquid comes trickling down, beans have first to be ground, steamed, sieved, before its sterling delivered to our cup – an effortful processing work to give us what’s at the end.Imagine the same for comedic movies; imagine the same for Bean’s holiday. What effortful scripting, character & plot planning and comical acting that must have been poured into this movie, and gave us the laughter and lightness in the final show?
So, realising that funny scenes are not there by accident, I began my interest in the person who created, and became Bean’s expressánt – Rowan Atkinson.
Self-Puppetry
Before we revisit what I find interesting about this film, I feel that we need to bear in mind that Mr. Bean, as a character, has a history in the film world. He gained shape and personality in our minds through the many, many episodes we saw through TV. So I believe the way Rowan handle this movie will carry more meaning if we talked about it in the light of Bean’s history.While reading an archived radio interview, what surprised me was that Rowan already graduated in electrical and electronic engineering when he arrived at Oxford University for his doctorate (2). He got opportunities to perform in school plays and stage shows, that led him to his journey of “finding his face”.
In the interview, he recalled:
“ I just looked in the mirror and started to improvise… had a look at my face, and explored it and stretched it, and tweaked it, and just had fun with it.” (2)
Going back to the earlier Bean-shows, Rowan made Bean to be self-consumed, self-flattering and inconsiderate of others around him; essentially going about his life doing things on his whims. Yet, nobody talks about his past; we’ve never seen his workplace, we were never told why he behaves that way, he is just this bloke in some place infecting the community with his menace. It’s as if the movie is not really about him, but rather other people’s reaction towards what he does, that makes it funny (2).
But, to put Bean into a feature film, he needs to be given a more humane character. He can’t just walk around annoying other people while making a fool out of himself for 2 hours. In another interview, Rowan talked about this issue in making the 2nd Bean-film “Johnny English”:
“You have to explore more facets of the character. You can't just have a single attitude… That's what we had to do with Mr. Bean – we had to get this very, very selfish and kind of autonomous character to acknowledge that maybe he'd done something wrong 2/3 of the way through the movie, and then the last 1/3 is him trying to put things right again.” (3)
A Modern Autobiography
Seems to me, Rowan already had a gist of what he wanted to do with this film by the time he finished “Johnny English”. He briefly mentioned:“It's sometimes better if he[Bean] doesn't vary very much... or whether you give it a different kind of conceit... Mr. Bean sits down to write his autobiography, and he remembers all the marvelous moments in his life.” (3)Now, if you remember the earlier Bean TV episodes, you’d recognize that this story includes memoirs of those old ones: the terrible experience with raw mussels, his attempt to pacify a depressed boy on a plane and him copying a stranger’s actions while sitting on a bench. On hindsight, these scenes are like what Rowan mentioned, an autobiography – “hey, you remember those times when I did that, that and that?”
[ref: Mr. Bean in Room 426, The Buffet]
[ref: Mr. Bean Rides Again, Holiday]image credit
[ref: The Curse of Mr. Bean, The Park]image credit
Yet I think, having us, audience, watch how the video recording was done, serves at least 2 functions. 1. An entertaining element itself, and 2. To help us see Mr. Bean’s character in retrospect.
Regarding the 2nd function, towards the end when Bean’s randomly done video was positioned together with Carson Clay’s self-serious film, it almost sounded as if Rowan is making a statement here. Perhaps, presenting his bias about what stories will audiences relate with. I don’t know. But the strong juxtaposition of a perfectly cinematographed, self conscious, heavily made up & costumed, with a total wreck in terms of visual quality, plus the audience’s standing ovation at the end for Bean’s part, seem to contain some statements there, or not, I don’t know. What do you make of this?
Well, whatever meanings there could be, on hindsight, the standing ovation does look like a nice way to signify a farewell celebration for the decade old character; paying homage to him who in some ways liberated the restrained child in his audience’s mind, at least mine.
Thank you very much, So long, and Farewell
Being the last Bean-Film that Rowan and his team had made, I’d really like to show you what I saw, as how the production team humbly wrapped up the Bean legacy, and have him gracefully retreat from the cinemas.I’m sure you’ll recall the final scene when Bean walked out of the movie hall, and at the corner of his eyes caught sight of the beach of Cannes. And as he began to record the momentous walk towards the beachfront, he was so absorbed in the image he was recording that he never realized he was going to walk off the top of the building! Right before he stepped into hollow, a tall truck came to a halt at the traffic light, allowing him to descend a small step onto its top. The second truck came to receive his step. You will remember every subsequent cars that came are lower than the previous ones, like a staircase, laying a safe path for Bean to set foot on the sandy beach.
And then I thought, Wow! Is that not like a Grand Descend from the stage? And I believe, Bean skipping around the beach and singing the ending song with the whole cast is by itself a curtain call!
For a comedy character that could be honoured and remembered all by himself, I think it’s very humble of Rowan to remind us that Bean is only funny because of the casts around him that makes him so.
Thank you Mr. Atkinson for a laughable character genuine and selfless by 'nature'.
So long, Mr. Bean !
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1. Carole King (1971). You've Got a Friend. Tapestry.2. Rowan Atkinson interview (year unknown). Canadian Radio.
Taken 6 May, 07 from:
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/8889/rowanint.htm
3. Ken Plume (2003). An Interview with Rowan Atkinson:
IGNFF's Ken Plume talks to Atkinson about Johnny English, Mr. Bean,
Blackadder, and more. Taken 6 May, 07 from http://movies.ign.com/articles/429/429385p1.html
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Sharon Chong, Published 8, May 2007
TGV, One Utama
:o)
TGV, One Utama
:o)
2 comments:
Your candid review brought back such good memories of the show. I want to watch it again!
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