Thursday, October 4, 2012

Anna Karenina


Joe Wright's Anna Karenina opens November 16th. It is an amazingly beautiful film to see. There is a look of ballet to the casts movements. The set design is unusual, scenes begin in the theatre pictured in the poster but then slowly slip into the set of the actual scene. It give's the feeling of watching a play that can somehow allow for spectacular outdoor scenes and sprawling rooms. You definitely feel the hand of Tom Stoppard's writing.

The dialogue of this traditionally loooong film is clipped. It's almost as though the entire film is done in twitter style, 140 characters for each character to move the story along. It feels somewhat abbreviated but does succeed in making the two hour plus movie feel like a much shorter film.

Over all the film has a much lighter feeling than previous incarnations, although it still is Anna Karenina so it can't be that light. The cast does an amazing job. I'm not a particular fan Keira Knightly, but I have to admit I think she does a good job here. Jude Law is almost unrecognizable as the saintly husband.



As you can see the film is highly stylized and I think should be judged accordingly. It's almost more art than story telling. I found it really interesting to watch. When you go have an open mind and don't expect the usual  movie experience and I think you'll enjoy it to.

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