Anna Karenina

Here is the promised first "movie critic of the week" post that I promised in my last post. While I was talking to some London natives, they were lamenting how all TV shows and movies release later in the UK than in the States because, duh, most popular shows and films are filmed and released by American companies. However, the new film adaptation of Anna Karenina is not one of those films. It is for all intents and purposes a British film...even though it's a Russian novel. This gets especially odd and confusing when everyone's accents in Imperial Russia are English accents...but we'll forgive and forget this little issue.

From IMDB.com

Anyways, as promised by the trailers and the movie poster (as seen above), the film Anna Karenina is a beautifully filmed and staged epic film to match the epic storyline. The sumptuous costumes and sets really set the mood for the film. Everything is so beautifully created and on top of that, director Joe Wright decided to set the entire film within a theatre. The pit, audience boxes, stage, backstage, and rafters of the theatre are all constantly transformed to create a new setting. For instance, the walkways above the stage are used to represent the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg. In another scene, the entire theatre was transformed into a horse racing stadium. The entire concept is both interesting and well done. For this reason, the film constantly entertains.

Admittedly, I have never read Leo Tolstoy's novel and therefore know very little about the specifics of the storyline. So in terms of the adaptation of the novel, I felt like it was cohesively put together and very comprehensive given that novel, I assume, is a very dense storyline. However, I do think that the plot did suffer from the creative ideas for the film. Properly conveying Leo Tolstoy's work didn't seem to be the main focus of the film, but rather how interestingly it could be portrayed. At one point while watching the film, I thought of a concept that a choreographer I worked with taught me. It's called "KISS", i.e. "keep it simple stupid". I personally feel like the adapting of the novel would have been benefited from this concept. But then we probably would have missed out on all the great film techniques used by Wright in directing the film. So I think how people receive the film will be based on their expectations for the film. If you love Joe Wright's work, you'll probably think its different from his past films but very interesting. If you're a huge Leo Tolstoy fan, you'll probably be disappointed.

Anyways, I can't wait for it to be released in the US so I can hear all of your opinions on the film. And overall, I would say the film is definitely enjoyable and worth paying the money to go see in theaters.

P.S. If there is anything you, as an audience to my blog, would like me to focus more on in these critics, please let me know!

P.P.S. I had my first celebrity siting yesterday! Tom Hiddleston from Midnight in Paris, which I reviewed in an earlier post, and The Avengers walked past me on his way to the bathroom in the Laban dance building while I was at a social for one year programme/post-graduate students. Seriously, I almost peed myself from excitement...

Jane Eyre...what??

This past Saturday, I felt so grown-up! I woke up early and made french toast for breakfast and then proceeded to get ready for the day to go see the new Jane Eyre movie by myself at an early bird special. While I was on the school shuttle, I bumped into a good friend I hadn't seen in awhile and convinced her to ditch what she had been planning to do to come watch the movie with me instead. Huzzah! She did and afterward we enjoyed an extremely delicious three course lunch at Cafe Deluxe in Bethesda...great success! But before that, we of course ran through the crazy rain to go watch Jane Eyre. And how was it? Well, we should look at a few other things before tackling that question.

Exhibit A

As far as Netflix shows me, these are the 1934, 1944, 1973, 1983, 1996, 1997, 2006, and 2011 film adaptations of Charlotte Brontë's classic novel Jane Eyre. For comparisons sake, there have only been five adaptations of the arguably more popular Pride and Prejudice. Anyways, I myself have seen four of the eight adaptations and have been more often disappointed than completely happy with the films. Which leads me to...

Exhibit B

THE PLOT

 

It's long and for some it's a tedious book to get through, so how do movie-makers consolidate all that story into a short 2 hour film? Well, since some of the versions are mini-series, they obviously aren't able to do it with great success, which is probably why they keep making new versions. But of course, you also need audience interest to keep trying for money reasons. So along those lines, while I was watching the newest version, it suddenly occurred to me that Jane Eyre is actually a very dark, dramatic story rather than just being another story of love and life as with many Jane Austen novels. Therefore, I think there's a certain appeal to a period piece movie that isn't all sunshine and happiness, but actually kinda creepy.

It's probably for this reason that Charlotte's sister Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights has also been able to reach success and become a classic novel as well. Personally, I find Wuthering Heights extremely overdone and annoying to get through with all the issues that Heathcliff and Cathy seem to have in the story, but hey that's just me... Anyways, I always assumed most people also felt the same way I did about Emily's work, but then it occurred to me that there's probably a whole group of people out in the world that love Wuthering Heights as well as a group who feel the same way about Jane Eyre as I feel about Wuthering Heights. So, some people like the dark and twisty stories and some don't and to what it extent, it always varies. Which finally leads me to, what did I actually think of this year's version of Jane Eyre?

Oh so many mixed feelings... Well, I definitely think this landed farther on the side of good than bad for sure, but it still wasn't a great film. My cons for the film include that once again it just doesn't do the plot complete justice. I actually really enjoyed the inter-splicing of past and present moments in Jane's life, but when the story is mainly focused on her time at Thornfield with Mr. Rochester, it just feels choppy and without any sort of flow to connect all the key moments they showed. It felt more like it was giving me a summary of what happened than actually just showing me what happened. I also missed seeing a better depiction of Jane's childhood life at Norwood and her friendship with Helen Burns. However, the pros of this film definitely made me very happy, especially the casting for the two leads Jane and Mr. Rochester. Even though the actual progression in the film didn't suggest a growing relationship, the acting and chemistry between the two made me believe it. It was also nice to see for the first time a blonde Jane Eyre versus a brunette. Michael Fassbender as Rochester was also a great choice because despite the dark character of Rochester, you still need someone who can make you believe that a person like Jane would actually want to marry him. I also really loved the different settings and the great cinematography of Thornfield and the countryside of England. Overall, I would say I'm happy with the film, but only because there are so few other good ones because in reality, the film isn't able to be great due to its choppy presentation...like I said, a lot of mixed feelings.

P.S. I'll try to write my next post not about a movie...

Good Chick Flicks -- I Bet You Haven't Heard Of

It seems fitting, given that I'm a HUGE movie buff, that I make my first post about movies! I don't know about you, but my life would not be the same without the use of Watch Instantly on Netflix. Sure, not all the movies offered are classics, one of the greats, or even passably good, but occasionally you do find a really good film that kind of comes out of nowhere (if you're in to big, sweeping epics, Agora is a pretty good one). Anyways, this post is specifically to make you aware of two great "chick flicks" (I cringe to use that term, bleh) that I've discovered on Netflix.

#1 My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
Made in 2010, this film stars Alyssa Milano as the female lead and although there's a definite happy-go-lucky, made for TV feel to the movie, I still was happily impressed with it. It's about a girl who appears to meet two great guys at the same time and simultaneously dates them. As both relationships progress, you start to feel miffed at Milano's character and how she can appear so sweet and yet be jerking these two guys around. However, if you are a clever movie-watcher and great at guessing plots, then the twist probably didn't catch you by surprise. Alas, despite all the movies I've seen, I still can't seem to guess movie plots to save my life. Therefore, the very surprising plot twist did catch me by surprise and suddenly turned my miffed feeling into a completely happy one. Happy to have discovered something that was both sweet and surprising. It was nice to see a movie that didn't rely on violence and sex to make an interesting story, but instead actually thought about the plot and created something interesting to watch.

#2 The Good Guy
Made in 2009, this film stars Alexis Bledel, Scott Porter, and Bryan Greenberg in a story that proves that good guys don't finish last. I'm gonna tangent for a moment and say that I love most "chick flicks" like any other girl but there's a certain amount of delusion in those films when a girl ends up with the suave, debonair, extremely rich guy who just so happens to also be sweet. Chances are that in real life that guy is a player and a huge douche...but I digress. The point is that any self-respecting girl in real life probably wouldn't end up with a guy like that for self-preservation reasons, especially when they use more product in their hair than you do. That is why I really enjoyed this particular movie because it sets up the story, making it appearing that Bledel's character is dating a real catch, a Wall Street star whose making tons of money and looking good while doing it. In the end though, the film progresses to show you the guy's true nature and brings forth his colleague as the real contender, an actual good guy despite some awkwardness. That is real life because good guys won't finish last because girls will always prefer the sweet guy to the jerk, no matter how most movies paint it otherwise.

In other news though, a chick flick that I'm looking forward to coming out on May 6th is Something Borrowed starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Colin Egglesfield, and Kate Hudson. The movie is an adaptation of an Emily Giffin novel and I must say that I love Emily Giffin books (although that one isn't my favorite). So, if you're looking for good chick-lit, check out her books; my particular favorites are Love the One You're With and Baby Proof. Enjoy!