The screenwriter must have been autistic. Or perhaps the director,
who once had the emotional power to direct the scalding movie
Jude, grew so exhausted by feeling that he had a lobotomy.
In any case, they have both contributed to the stunning
accomplishment of turning an emotionally charged subject, an
extremely talented cast, a stunning location, and a dramatic movie
score into a finished product that conveys the emotional
resonance and flavor of a mouthfull of slushy oatmeal.
Caution, spoilers ahead:
I am not someone who uses this adjective often, but there is no
other word for this film but boring. The story itself is potentially
shocking. A young man from Dublin is so exhausted and discouraged by the trek out to the American west that he carelessly
sells his wife and daughter for gold. Twenty years later, when he
has it all-- enormous riches, a town he founded, local respect, a
sexy mistress-- his wife comes to find him. Yet in striving for
understatement, Michael Winterbotom gives us two hours of
emotional muteness. The learn very little about any of the
characters, and oddly enough, such supple actors as Wes Bentley
(the captivating Ricki Fitz in American beauty) and Sarah Polley
(consistently good, and notably poignant in The Sweet Hearafter)
come across as frankly uninteresting. Even Milla Jovovich, whose
stilted speech and little girl "sexy" posturing I usually find tiring (I
still think her squaking performance in the 5th element was her
best to date) was unusally subdued.
This is the danger of literary adaptations. I haven't read the original
Hardy (and this certainly does not encourage that impulse) but
doubtless the characters that seem so alternately silent and
predictable on the screen would have more depth. I am sure that
there are more than a few short flashbacks to the crux of the whole
story-- the scene of desertion and what that disertion meant. The
central problem with Winterbottom's film is that it really means
nothing-- the wife forgives him, the daughter doesn't know. But
there is that little issue that TWENTY YEARS pass. As portrayed in
this thin script, the late Dillon is just too good a man, too just a
man, to have SOLD his family without ever once trying to find them,
and without ever once trying to explain himself.
I can't overemphasize how good the cast is-- even the model who
makes her acting debut as a young Elena is absolutely stunning
(and it doesn't hurt that she is one of the most gorgeous women to
cross the screen in recent memory!). Natasia Kinski, Sarah Polley,
Wes Bentley have all proven their acting chops. Solely on the
strength of his performance of Dillon, I am eager to watch all 16 of
Peter Mullan's previous films.
If you are going to watch this movie, I'd suggest doing so in
summer. That way you might enjoy watching the snow swirled
screen and hearing the howling of wind passing through the place
where the films emotional core should be. Personally, it left me
cold.
who once had the emotional power to direct the scalding movie
Jude, grew so exhausted by feeling that he had a lobotomy.
In any case, they have both contributed to the stunning
accomplishment of turning an emotionally charged subject, an
extremely talented cast, a stunning location, and a dramatic movie
score into a finished product that conveys the emotional
resonance and flavor of a mouthfull of slushy oatmeal.
Caution, spoilers ahead:
I am not someone who uses this adjective often, but there is no
other word for this film but boring. The story itself is potentially
shocking. A young man from Dublin is so exhausted and discouraged by the trek out to the American west that he carelessly
sells his wife and daughter for gold. Twenty years later, when he
has it all-- enormous riches, a town he founded, local respect, a
sexy mistress-- his wife comes to find him. Yet in striving for
understatement, Michael Winterbotom gives us two hours of
emotional muteness. The learn very little about any of the
characters, and oddly enough, such supple actors as Wes Bentley
(the captivating Ricki Fitz in American beauty) and Sarah Polley
(consistently good, and notably poignant in The Sweet Hearafter)
come across as frankly uninteresting. Even Milla Jovovich, whose
stilted speech and little girl "sexy" posturing I usually find tiring (I
still think her squaking performance in the 5th element was her
best to date) was unusally subdued.
This is the danger of literary adaptations. I haven't read the original
Hardy (and this certainly does not encourage that impulse) but
doubtless the characters that seem so alternately silent and
predictable on the screen would have more depth. I am sure that
there are more than a few short flashbacks to the crux of the whole
story-- the scene of desertion and what that disertion meant. The
central problem with Winterbottom's film is that it really means
nothing-- the wife forgives him, the daughter doesn't know. But
there is that little issue that TWENTY YEARS pass. As portrayed in
this thin script, the late Dillon is just too good a man, too just a
man, to have SOLD his family without ever once trying to find them,
and without ever once trying to explain himself.
I can't overemphasize how good the cast is-- even the model who
makes her acting debut as a young Elena is absolutely stunning
(and it doesn't hurt that she is one of the most gorgeous women to
cross the screen in recent memory!). Natasia Kinski, Sarah Polley,
Wes Bentley have all proven their acting chops. Solely on the
strength of his performance of Dillon, I am eager to watch all 16 of
Peter Mullan's previous films.
If you are going to watch this movie, I'd suggest doing so in
summer. That way you might enjoy watching the snow swirled
screen and hearing the howling of wind passing through the place
where the films emotional core should be. Personally, it left me
cold.