Three Beautiful Things 12/28/12: "Lincoln" Screenplay, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jade Palace Feast

 1.  As I was listening to the extraordinary screenplay of the movie, "Lincoln", unfold this afternoon, I recalled my enjoyment of the Ethan and Joel Coen's screenplay of "True Grit".  I enjoyed the way Tommy Lee Jones, as Thaddeus Stevens, reveled in Stevens'  overwrought metaphors, insults, and passion, all in a love for a certain stylized diction of the mid-nineteenth century.  Moreover, I nearly sat on the edge of my seat waiting for Daniel-Day Lewis' Lincoln to drop another line from "Hamlet" or "King Lear" or the Bible or a maxim from Euclid on his wife or cabinet or a confidante or to tell another folksy fable to whomever was in the room.  I ached with enjoyment throughout the movie, as I did when listening to the poetry of "True Grit".  In "Lincoln" the range of diction for its range of characters was not only as enjoyable as Ethan and Joel Coen, but Tony Kushner's sceenplay was as enjoyable as listening to Shakespeare. 

2.  I kept trying to think, as I watched "Lincoln", when else I had experienced an actor so entirely occupy a character as Daniel Day-Lewis occupied Abraham Lincoln.  Charleze Theron as Aileen Wuornos in "Monster" comes to mind.  Then my mind turns back to Daniel Day-Lewis as Christy Lewis in "My Left Foot" and when he played Johnny in "My Beautiful Laundrette".   I think of the remarkable King Lear that Laurence Oliver played in 1983.  In Act IV and on into Act V, I forgot Laurence Olivier even existed:  there was only this transformed king, this old man cleansed and child-like, who had found his way through madness back to his own soul.  I won't go on.  Suffice it to say that I experienced Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of Abraham Lincoln as sublime.  It gave me great joy.  It moved me.  I was astonished.

3.  When I'm batching it, sometimes I buy a family dinner for two to go from Jade Palace and then I have about three dinners worth of Chinese food to indulge in.  I did that this evening and really enjoyed my first dive into the lemon chicken, pork fried rice, fried shrimp, and other dishes as I relaxed this evening after seeing "Lincoln".