BRIGHT STAR
CAROLINE: “Bright Star” is the new movie about John Keats from director Jane Campion which has garnered all kinds of surprising Oscar buzz for Abbie Cornish, who was formerly known as the girl who broke up Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe’s marriage.
RYAN: It’s about time she made a name for herself. I didn’t get to see this one with you. How was it?
CAROLINE: I actually got to attend the premiere at the Paris Theatre, which was pretty cool. Jane Campion and the whole cast was there. As for the movie, I was into it for about 45 minutes, and then I got bored. I quickly realized that not much was gonna happen other than the men writing poetry, the women sewing and the kids playing in fields of lavender.
RYAN: So it’s another dull period piece?
CAROLINE: Well, I hesitate to say that because it’s very well made; this is from the woman who made “The Piano” lest we forget. The love story between Keats and Fanny Brawne is the focus, but not much else happens.
RYAN: The trailer looked really good to me though. And I’m always interested in learning more about a love story between two real people in history, especially given the whole poet/muse relationship.
CAROLINE: Theoretically, I was interested too since I always love a love story. I can’t I know much about the poetry of John Keats, but I was up for learning more about it. But he wasn’t even a prolific poet since he died young and considered himself a failure. He didn’t become celebrated till much later. So the movie is basically him sitting and writing with his friend, and then watching Abbie Cornish wait for his letters when he’s away. And she sews.
RYAN: LBH, there wasn’t much for the women to do back then except sew and cook.
CAROLINE: True, but that was part of the problem. It just got so boring in the second hour.
RYAN: Did you ever look at Abbie Cornish and think, “This movie would be so much better if it were Keira Knightley?”
CAROLINE: Not really. She held her own and did a good English accent. I thought she was very good, but I don’t know if I would have called her Oscar worthy if I hadn’t previously heard the buzz about her performance. I did notice that she’s not as emaciated as your average movie star.
RYAN: How was Ben Whishaw? I loved him in “Brideshead Revisited.”
CAROLINE: He was good, but he’s so skinny I found it hard to look at him. I really liked Paul Schneider, who played his friend. He was in that horrible “Assassination of Jesse James” movie, but he’s a good actor. So overall, it had some redeeming things about it, but I found it very slow-moving. I was so ready for it to end.
RYAN: I don’t think I want to see it.
— BOTTOM LINE —
CAROLINE: I can appreciate this as a well made film, but I can’t say I was truly entertained. It’s more to be admired than anything else. Two hours was just too much. I tend to like period pieces, but this one was a little slow and overwrought for me.
— RATING —
