praise

I saw Praise two days back on HBO. I didn't want to watch any movies. I had returned late from the office and was not in a very good mood - so I switched my TV on and started searching for some Adult movie on my Digital Cable.

Praise, Directed by John Curran, was TVMA. 'Good' - I thought.

Turns out it was not soft porn. It was a fantastic movie (well - agreed - some soft porn are great movies as well - but well - I was out of luck so...). It was strange and beautiful. PRAISE is a powerful, tragicomic love story of obsession, addiction, and codependency.

It's a simple enough story actually: two mismatched lovers.

Gordon is a chain-smoker and has asthma with a rather rapid insipid libido. Cynthia is a slightly pudgy nymphomaniac with a bad case of eczema. This girl is crazy about sex.

After quitting his job at a Brisbane liquor store, Gordon makes a mistake that changes his life big time: he becomes involved in Cynthia's manic parlor of games of chemical and sexual excess.

Cynthia lights Gordon's Cigs and Gordon scratches Cynthia's eczema. Cynthia wants constant sex, Gordon can't yield all the time. There's a lot of abuse, drinking, smoking and sadness in the movie. Sex is not that great. It fits the movie and stops there.

Incidentally my roommate didn't like the movie at all. He thought the characters were rather undeveloped and story was absent. I opine totally opposite. I think the character study in the movie is great and story line is interesting.

This movie was winner of the prestigious FIRPRESCI prize at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival, in case you care.

Praise (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Praised (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Praising.] [OE. preisen, OF. preisier, prisier, F. priser, L. pretiare to prize, fr. pretium price. See Price, n., and cf. Appreciate, Praise, n., Prize, v.]

1.

To commend; to applaud; to express approbation of; to laud; -- applied to a person or his acts.

"I praise well thy wit."

Chaucer.

Let her own works praise her in the gates. Prov. xxxi. 31.

We praise not Hector, though his name, we know, Is great in arms; 't is hard to praise a foe. Dryden.

2.

To extol in words or song; to magnify; to glorify on account of perfections or excellent works; to do honor to; to display the excellence of; -- applied especially to the Divine Being.

Praise ye him, all his angels; praise ye him, all his hosts! Ps. cxlviii. 2.

3.

To value; to appraise.

[Obs.]

Piers Plowman.

Syn. -- To commend; laud; eulogize; celebrate; glorify; magnify. -- To Praise, Applaud, Extol. To praise is to set at high price; to applaud is to greet with clapping; to extol is to bear aloft, to exalt. We may praise in the exercise of calm judgment; we usually applaud from impulse, and on account of some specific act; we extol under the influence of high admiration, and usually in strong, if not extravagant, language.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Praise, n. [OE. preis, OF. preis price, worth, value, estimation. See Praise, v., Price.]

1.

Commendation for worth; approval expressed; honor rendered because of excellence or worth; laudation; approbation.

There are men who always confound the praise of goodness with the practice. Rambler.

⇒ Praise may be expressed by an individual, and thus differs from fame, renown, and celebrity, which are always the expression of the approbation of numbers, or public commendation.

2.

Especially, the joyful tribute of gratitude or homage rendered to the Divine Being; the act of glorifying or extolling the Creator; worship, particularly worship by song, distinction from prayer and other acts of worship; as, a service of praise.

3.

The object, ground, or reason of praise.

He is thy praise, and he is thy God. Deut. x..

Syn. -- Encomium; honor; eulogy; panegyric; plaudit; applause; acclaim; eclat; commendation; laudation.

 

© Webster 1913.