Reviews

This film though not one of Tim Roth's best, is one that should be seen by those interested in his career. It is a pivotal film, one in which he transforms himself into an American gangster/hood/waster small bit anti-hero. The film takes us to the Bronx and the dialogue though it was written in the 1990's reminds one of the kind of a 1970's film in which the heroes look back to their childhood place. Remember where we played ball. Remember where that kid Bluey threw a brick down from the building.That kind of thing. Roth is a de Niro. I mean the hand in the jacket pocket, the swagger, the punchdrunk interjections, the hands and the eye movement. It is de Niro. Almost to the point of parody. I couldn't focus on the film because of these mannerisms, and yet I felt this was interesting because it showed the method of acting where the actor copies the actor who used the Stanislavsky method copying life. The film on the whole would have benefitted from being on stage --it would make a great play --but a film, no.

I watched this film at my friend's behest. We sat there at first we were taken in by the seriousness of the play. I mean it is a tragedy, and it is Shakespeare, and think someone must have told Mel Gibson the same. They must have taken him to one side and said. Mel Hamlet is not Lethal Weapon, we are talking class acting --go and study the late Larry Olivier. He did. Mel looks like Olivier --bleached --a bit also like David Hemmings --and with this new hair color --he becomes tragic. Not. I waited to see how he would deal with the greatest lines in the play and I noticed --and how deadly this is in films, and at that point you lose interest in everything but this, this head movement. The director must of told Mel to move his head in a "tragic way" like Larry did. And it is sublime. It is so, so, funny. I couldn't help but think of those dogs in the back of car bobbing up and down. And you know what --I laughed and laughed. This is the funniest --unintentionally, film I have seen for ages. My respect for Mel went up. I think he has the potential for playing tragic parts, but he needs to find a better director and role model.

Film-makers and movie-goers should see this film. It high-lights major problems with this genre. If we start with the use of studios and the penchant for special effects. This means that the sets are always, dark, and more than often that they are in derelict buildings. The models used are constructed by similar thinking people. The film itself is constructed on stereotypical binaries. The German accented villain - is unfortunate, it is built on I think a less than subliminated version of the Second World War. Brunettes, blondes, Germans, Jews, dirty faced children, clean children, war, peace, black, white. They are cliches.The dialogue could have been written on a beer mat. The acting was deplorable. Wooden. Why do people waste money on such a production? Yet there are so many like this.Given the same material and same budget I could have made a much better movie. I think Philip Roth should hang his head in shame. But as I said before. Watch it and study the formulaic, the stereotypes, the cliches --indeed this film should be put on the viewing list of film courses. A must to see.

i think this movie is a christmas movie --the kind made to be shown for the christmas box office or to be repeated endlessly --like home alone, the 101 dalmations, but having said that it had its funny moments -- i think lee evans has genius and should have a movie of his own! i would write a script for him --he has the pathos of a fine comic actor...

I loved the flow of this film how it starts with a street scene, the actors merge together at the door of the theatre, engage in some small-talk with each other and the hero Vanya --not in character yet --sleeps --two Larry Pine and Phoebe Brand sit at a table --then we hear the sound of bells --then the performance begins. This flow from the street into the theatre then into the drama is done so effortlessly that I watched it many times over. One really sensed that the actors enjoyed making this film. Wallace Shawn as Uncle Vanya --what an actor. Loved it. This film is the best introduction to Chekhov I know of --other than seeing it in a local theatre. I have watched it four times --because I think one can learn about stagecraft, acting, as well as film production. If the cast or director ever come by here --let me say thank you.

This film had the tension and intellectual underpinning of a Doestoyevski novel. The cinematography was superb, but the main focus of interest was in the acting, particularly that of the judge and the accused.The tenderness and general humanity of the judge and above all his compassion, is an example for all of us, and it is what each human being should strive to be like. A beautiful, poignant and evocative movie, that makes one think and think hours afterwards about the nature of crime and punishment.

The opening scene in this movie is poetic and evocative of a China long gone,the Opera scenes are also aesthetically pleasing, but what impressed me most was the acting by the three main actors and the monkey (though I felt sorry concerning his/her rights). The old man displayed a repertoire of feelings that one rarely sees in the cinema today. The ancient craft of masks was sublime. The last scene was beyond words.