The Little Hours is an American comedy film written directed by Jeff Baena. It stars Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci, Aubrey Plaza, John C. Reilly, and Molly Shannon.
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2017.
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Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:13 am
thompsoncory
Rachel McAdams Fan
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:13 am Posts: 14544 Location: LA / NYC
Re: The Little Hours
You have to go into this movie basically acknowledging that it's absolutely ridiculous. It's basically Wet Hot American Summer set in the 14th century and it really doesn't take itself seriously at all. That being said, its cast of all-star comedians really make this mostly a delight - the entire ensemble has great chemistry and there's a sweet spirit and message about friendship that runs underneath the absurdity. Kate Miccuci steals every scene she is in, but Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Fred Armsien, Molly Shannon and especially John C. Reilly are fucking hilarious. This is destined to be a cult classic. B
Mon Jan 23, 2017 8:52 pm
tree and a half
Cream of the Crop
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2016 11:38 am Posts: 2084
Re: The Little Hours
I have never read Boccaccio's original 1353 Italian book The Decameron, nor have I seen the 1971 Pasolini film adaptation, so I was happily surprised to first discover these ribald tales featuring nuns and priests in the middle ages in The Little Hours (notably covering story #1 from day #3 of the 10 stories in 10 days covered in book). The cast is a who's who of Hollywood oddballs all wringing their eccentric best out the English translation using modern language making the salty dialogue accessible and often hilarious. But unlike Monty Python and the Holy Grail, this isn't a spoof - it's a straight telling of some classic forgotten tales. This movie is definitely thinking outside the tiny little box of current movie taste, and makes a refreshing palate cleanser after the endless buffet of bland fare at the cinema. *A*
Note: The English translation via Gutenberg linked above is the 1886 version by John Payne. Also, here is a free online copy of the 1903 version by JM Rigg which "while somewhat dated in its language and style, has a highly literal approach to translation which gives readers a reliable crib for exploring the original Italian text and is easily readable on its own". I'm now interested in reading the latest "strikingly modern" 2013 translation by Wayne A Rebhorn, though no free online copy is available, it can be acquired in the usual places. One reviewer of the 1024 page long 2013 translation comments: "If forced to flee a burning building, if I could only take one translation of The Decameron with me, it would be this one." Rebhorn notes in his introduction that: "Boccaccio makes less play with real or invented idioms than Shakespeare does in his comedies. He relies more on the comic effects of the syntactic and morphological peculiarities of popular speech."
There is also another modernized film version from 2007 - Virgin Territory. I imagine it doesn't cover exactly the same individual stories (out of the 100 stories of the Decameron), so I'm going to make some time to see this one too.
For a comedy I found this mostly quite unfunny, and without that going for it, there was not much left. It's got a bit of tasteful nudity in it, and Aubrey Plaza is charming in her role as disgruntled nun, but it's dull film. Fine to waste some time with, but I fully understand it hasn't reached a mass audience.
C-
Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:44 am
tree and a half
Cream of the Crop
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2016 11:38 am Posts: 2084
Re: The Little Hours
Quote:
"That's the longest list I've ever had: apostasy, abusive language, heresy, revelingness, eating blood. Do you think I've ever written.down 'eating blood' before? Where am I?"
I laughed reading that and it was a good line in the film too, actually I was looking forward to Armisen character to appear which unfortunately was only until the very end, and besides that line there really wasn't more from him either.
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