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Hogfather.
Dec. 24th, 2010 17:45Hogfather. Dir. Vadim Jean, 2006.
I saw this BBC TV miniseries at a holiday shindig recently, and I thought it was pretty damn awesome--and that it truly captured some essence of theChristmas Hogswatch spirit at its best.
This is based on the Discworld novel of the same name that I haven't read, and since it's a miniseries, it has the length of time to be, I assume, very faithful to the original: to wit, after the Auditors, who want to make the Discworld sensible, hire Teatime (it's pronounced "Tay-ah-ti-may") of the Assassin's Guild to do away with the Hogfather, Death's granddaughter Susan must journey to the Tooth Fairy's castle to save the day while Death holds down the fort by filling in for the Hogfather, without belief in whom the sun will not rise again.
Hogswatch bears a surprising resemblance to our Christmas, even though it's just another solar festival, and though I don't always enjoy Discworld (*ducks the rocks and cabbages*), I quite liked the movie, particularly Ian Richardson as the voice of Death and Michelle Dockery as Susan, who is just AWESOME. Seriously, I cannot tell you how awesome Susan is, or how much she will never get to have the normal life she wants, because of who she is and who her grandfather is. Also, the guy who played Adm. Padorin in The Hunt for Red October is the Chancellor of the Unseen University, which was cool.
So, yes. I can't really venture to say what people who feel differently about Christmas than I do will think of this movie, but in my thoroughly secular/solstical love of the holiday, I quite enjoyed the movie, particularly when Death starts asking the uncomfortable questions about Hogswatch, and Susan fights to defend it because of the good it does. They're both right, and they're right that humans need to believe in something, whether it's the Hogfather, or whatever, or just that the sun will rise again.
I saw this BBC TV miniseries at a holiday shindig recently, and I thought it was pretty damn awesome--and that it truly captured some essence of the
This is based on the Discworld novel of the same name that I haven't read, and since it's a miniseries, it has the length of time to be, I assume, very faithful to the original: to wit, after the Auditors, who want to make the Discworld sensible, hire Teatime (it's pronounced "Tay-ah-ti-may") of the Assassin's Guild to do away with the Hogfather, Death's granddaughter Susan must journey to the Tooth Fairy's castle to save the day while Death holds down the fort by filling in for the Hogfather, without belief in whom the sun will not rise again.
Hogswatch bears a surprising resemblance to our Christmas, even though it's just another solar festival, and though I don't always enjoy Discworld (*ducks the rocks and cabbages*), I quite liked the movie, particularly Ian Richardson as the voice of Death and Michelle Dockery as Susan, who is just AWESOME. Seriously, I cannot tell you how awesome Susan is, or how much she will never get to have the normal life she wants, because of who she is and who her grandfather is. Also, the guy who played Adm. Padorin in The Hunt for Red October is the Chancellor of the Unseen University, which was cool.
So, yes. I can't really venture to say what people who feel differently about Christmas than I do will think of this movie, but in my thoroughly secular/solstical love of the holiday, I quite enjoyed the movie, particularly when Death starts asking the uncomfortable questions about Hogswatch, and Susan fights to defend it because of the good it does. They're both right, and they're right that humans need to believe in something, whether it's the Hogfather, or whatever, or just that the sun will rise again.
