BEHIND THE CANDELABRA! What did you think?- Page 4

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 6:42am

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 8:15am

I absolutely didn't LOVE the film itself, but I thought the performances were excellent. I loved Rob Lowe. He stole it for me. I found Micheal Douglas's Librace to be cringe-worthy, but Liberace was cringe-worthy, so it worked. Matt Damon was great.

I was surprised by the things they seemed to skip. I never really got to the heart of their relationship. Was it just an old creeper wanting a young beautiful boy and a young kid wanting a lifestyle or was there actual affection? It's tough to say and wasn't clear cut. They just dropped the adoption angle without explaining why only to bring it back after the breakup, again, without explaining why they didn't do it. I would have, at least, liked to hear how Scott got off the drugs.

And finally, maybe I am reading too much into it or it's the result of a skewed view due to the autobiographical subject, but I felt an underlying "AIDS as punishment," theme. Liberace cheated. Scott, according to him, was faithful. Liberace was a bottom or, at least, versatile. Scott refused to be bottom, to the point that it was obviously a point of contention. (I have big problem with the "bottom" shaming within the community, anyway.) Of course, Liberace ended up contracting AIDS and Scott was fine. Sure, maybe that's how it played out in real life, but it wasn't because of Scott's behavior. Scott was very lucky and I wish they would have touched on that more.

Updated On: 5/28/13 at 08:15 AM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 8:24am

Who's Todd?

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 8:33am

Ha ha. I swear, I thought that was what he said his name was to Bob in the bar an then I got it stuck in my head. I have a newborn and watched it during night feedings. lol

[Jane2]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 9:11am

JG2, very good assessment, I wasn't able to articulate what you said, but you're spot on.

Kad, I think you're right.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 9:28am

Sad -- a TV movie of the week level wallow in the slime pit, with a healthy dash of "Ewwwww! FAGGOTS!" thrown in. That sudden appearance of the AIDS crisis via a newspaper headline about Rock Hudson was really cheesy, as was pretty much the rest of the film. A shallow film about, admittedly, some pretty shallow people that never demonstrates the wit, intelligence, style or even basic human decency of other films in a similar vein, like Burton's ED WOOD.

I'd hoped for better, I really had. This film could have profited from the attentions of the director of SEX LIES AND VIDEOTAPE, you know, the Steven Soderbergh who manages to bring people to life in interesting and revealing ways. Instead we got the schlock meister of the OCEAN films -- glitz and schlock and smirking vapidity. Liberace deserves better.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 9:31am

Agree with JerseyGirl and Roscoe. I had high hopes but was disappointed. Can't help but wonder what the film would have been like if more gay talent were involved in making it.
The use of the retro HBO logo in the beginning was pretty awesome though.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 9:38am

I also Agree with Kad. Liberace didn't want to come on to strong because he needed to get him in his bed, once he got him there, pretending went out the window. It was all part of Liberace's plan.

Thanks for the advice, John

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 9:40am

I think it would be really difficult to capture Liberace with a genuine authenticity because he was anything but authentic. He was the stereotype. The perfect film would really have to walk a thin line. I guess this one did it as well as could be done given the subject matter. Maybe it just wouldn't be possible to make a film about him that doesn't make one cringe and roll your eyes. I have a feeling most would have done so in the actual man's presence.

[John Adams]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 9:47am

>> This film could have profited from the attentions of the director of SEX LIES AND VIDEOTAPE, you know, the Steven Soderbergh who manages to bring people to life in interesting and revealing ways.

"HBO's Liberace biopic, "Behind the Candelabra" has generated so much buzz thanks to its subject matter (the tormented relationship between the pianist and his much younger lover, Scott Thorson) and its well-known leading men (Michael Douglas and Matt Damon), it's easy to forget it also happens to be the last film directed by Steven Soderbergh before he goes into self-imposed exile from moviemaking."

From the LA Times article posted
HERE

[John Adams]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 9:51am

>> the perfect film would really have to walk a thin line. I guess this one did it as well as could be done given the subject matter.

Agreed. I'd also add one more caveat to your last sentence: "and the fact it's based on Scott Thorson's book".
Updated On: 5/28/13 at 09:51 AM

[John Adams]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 10:26am

I think this movie was made completely for Michael Douglas, and by Soderbergh, as a vanity project.

According to Douglas, the idea of him playing Liberace was first brought to his attention by Soderbergh when they were working on Traffic. Douglas tells the story (including a tiny example of some "Gay panic" on his part) in his recent interview on The Graham Norton Show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klYObyJ33D8&t=2m12s

Soderbergh chose Scott Thorson's book (Thorson being a pretty "tabloid" character in his own right) as the source material for what may be the last movie he'll ever make - at least for a while.

Considering that info, I think Soderbergh wasn't interested in making a movie that people should consider to be accurate, or factual like a "biopic". I think it's more likely he just wanted to do a "last project" that would give Douglas the opportunity to play Liberace and prove his "viability" as an actor after his bout with cancer. In other words, I don't think the plan was so much to make a good movie about Liberace as it was to create a challenging vehicle for Douglas in his "last" (we'll see...) film.
Updated On: 5/28/13 at 10:26 AM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 10:32am

By limiting the film's POV to the admittedly limited and frankly biased POV of Scott Thorson, the film settles for a limited and frankly biased depiction of the events in question, and only winds up as a hatchet job.

Agreed about the whole AIDS-as-Punishment meme, too. Was Tyler Perry an executive producer?

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 11:08am

Was Tyler Perry an executive producer?

My mind went there, too.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 11:11am

I would have, at least, liked to hear how Scott got off the drugs.

I don't think he has. Read the NY Times article linked twice in this thread. Scott-in-real-life is even sadder than Scott-in-the-movie.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 11:14am

Liberace on Oprah, 3 months before his death, 1986.

http://youtu.be/Bl-jRHQ3mus

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 11:25am

Well, that's just sad. It made it seem like he had his life, at least somewhat, together by the end.

[Jane2]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 11:49am

Did you notice what the average age of the audience members must have been?

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 11:55am

Wow. The article was enlightening. I wish I had read it before seeing the film.

[Master Bates]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 10:52pm

This image best describes how I felt watching this movie: Guilty, titillated, sad, curious, giddy, and ultimately ashamed
Updated On: 5/28/13 at 10:52 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 10:55pm

LOL!!!!!

[StockardFan]

Posted: 5/28/13 at 11:32pm

jg2 I didn't realize you guys had your baby! Or did I? Either way congratulations!

I didn't realize that Scott was only 17 when they got together. Probably because Matt Damon is so much older. I thought Scott was supposed to be about 24.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 5/29/13 at 12:45am

The actual plastic surgeon clearly has had work done (that chin!). Even if the looks were off, I care more about what the character represented and his involvement as a pusher and enabler. It didn't bother me that Damon was too old but man, he never looked better than in those pre-plastic surgery scenes and on re-watch I think he bests Douglas. One of my favorite performances of him and I'm ambivalent toward him.

Don't buy the ill-will sentiment. With that ending?

As for Douglas and Soderbergh, I think we confuse passion project for vanity project. Soderbergh loathes the film industry and stuff like this getting denied by studios are a reason but I found no sentiment in the movie. Soderbergh fought to get the movie made. People seem to expect his movies to be something they are not. That often is also the reaction by the studios. He is not my favorite director but I appreciate him always trying to do something different. I don't think this was about giving Douglas a vehicle. I actually think Soderbergh is fascinated by celebrity and considered Liberace to embody celebrity in various categories, namely those plastic surgery scenes.

[Luscious]

Posted: 5/29/13 at 12:53am

"In other words, I don't think the plan was so much to make a good movie about Liberace as it was to create a challenging vehicle for Douglas in his "last" (we'll see...) film."

What an asinine observation.

Updated On: 5/29/13 at 12:53 AM

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 5/29/13 at 1:40am

Stockard, she's three months, already! Thank you!

That gif is one of the greatest I have ever seen.