Movies Spotlight – 2016 Movies, Part 2 – August 2016

Overall, 2016 has felt disappointing at the movies. Yes, we have a few great movies like Everybody Wants Some!!, Green Room and The Witch, but the year seems to have produced one disappointment after another (especially this Summer). Captain America: Civil War, The Jungle Book, Zootopia, Finding Dory, and Deadpool lived up to our expectations (and surpassed them), but Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, X-Men: Apocalypse, The BFG, The Legend of Tarzan, Jason Bourne, and now Suicide Squad have all come up short (seemingly pulling down our opinions of the whole year and our enthusiasm for what is to come). And yet, there are a number of films to still be excited for:

Pete’s Dragon

At face value, it is surprising that Disney would remake Pete’s Dragon, a back-catalog 1970s musical that I imagine anyone under 35 does not even know ever existed. But Disney has done something interesting with this remake, they have only taken the very basics from the original and let indie auteur David Lowery run with it, resulting in a family film that actually feels substantial. Lowery also has a great cast with Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford and Karl Urban. In theaters August 12^th. Check out the trailer.

The Light Between Oceans

Derek Cianfrance makes brooding dramas, steeped in deep, dark emotions. This all makes him the perfect filmmaker to take on an adaptation of The Light Between Oceans, a drama about a man and wife who decide to raise a baby they find adrift only to discover years later that the child’s mother is still searching for it. The cast is among the year’s absolute best with Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender and Rachel Weisz. This could be 2016’s first serious Oscar contender. In theaters September 2^nd. Check out the trailer.

The Girl on the Train

Paula Hawkins’s novel was a huge success, making this adaptation one of the most anticipated films of the Fall. Emily Blunt leads a good cast and Tate Taylor has proven very adept in his ability to produce strong cinematic adaptations (like The Help). The mystery thriller is about Rachel Watson, a divorced woman who takes a train past her old house everyday on her way to work; only, one day something is different when she believes that she witnesses a murder, but that is not the whole story. In theaters October 7^th. Check out the trailer.

The Birth of a Nation

Writer/director/star Nate Parker won both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival with his slavery drama The Birth of a Nation. The film feels vital, given the #OscarsSoWhite controversy and our current sociopolitical climate. Parker also represents a much needed fresh cinematic voice. The film is about Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher who organizes a rebellion against the masters in the antebellum South. In theaters October 7^th. Check out the trailer.

Doctor Strange

Marvel Studios can do no wrong with their Cinematic Universe (aka the MCU), or so it seems. Doctor Strange, however, represents an interesting challenge. Marvel bottled lightening with Guardians of the Galaxy, a gaggle of heroes unknown to general movie-going audiences, but can they do it again with Dr. Stephen Strange? They certainly have the goodwill of their fans, a promising (and different) concept and a phenomenal cast, headlined by Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Eijiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, and Tilda Swinton. In theaters November 4^th. Check out the trailer.

Loving

Indie auteur Jeff Nichols is one of America’s brightest independent filmmaking stars. His new drama tackles the true story of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple struggling to live in 1958 Virginia. Like The Birth of a Nation, Loving feels tonally vital right now. The buzz out of the Cannes Film Festival, where it screened in May, was very strong with special notices for leads Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton. In theaters November 4^th. Check out the trailer.

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

Filmmakers have had limited success tackling the Iraq War, as it seems to be difficult to really capture the tone of such a twisted and problematic conflict and portray the struggles faced by the men and women in the middle of it (my personal favorite is the HBO miniseries Generation Kill). That said, auteur Ang Lee is a good fit to take it on. Lee also has a good eclectic cast with Kristen Stewart, Vin Diesel, Steve Martin, and Chris Tucker. The film adaptation is about Billy Lynn, a war hero who temporarily gets to come home. In theaters November 11^th. Check out the trailer.

Arrival

Auteur Denis Villeneuve made my favorite film of 2015 with Sicario; he is back in 2016 with the sci-fi drama Arrival. It is about an expert linguist who is recruited by the military to determine if an alien race that has landed crafts across the globe comes in peace or are a threat. Villeneuve again champions the need for more roles and better roles for female actors by casting Amy Adams in the lead (he famously gender switched the lead in Sicario, casting Emily Blunt). In theaters November 11^th.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Cynically speaking, we all knew Warner Bros. would find a way to keep the Wizarding World of Harry Potter going; however, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has the pedigree to delight fans. J.K. Rowling is providing the script, David Yates (who directed films 5-8 of the Harry Potter series) is behind the camera, and Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne stars. The film is about the adventures of Newt Scamander, a specialist in magical creatures, in 1920s New York City. Even after eight films, I am excited to return to the Wizarding World. In theaters November 18^th. Check out the trailer.

Manchester by the Sea

Auteur Kenneth Lonergan is finally back with a new film with Manchester by the Sea, a drama about an uncle who must take care of his teenage nephew after the boy’s father passes. The film has a ton of Oscar buzz coming out of its early festival screenings, many calling it the best film of 2016 so far. It boasts a solid cast, led by Casey Affleck, Kyle Chandler and Michelle Williams. In theaters November 18^th.

Moana

Disney’s latest ‘princess’ film aims to be something completely different. First, Moana, a young Hawaiian woman, is actually voiced by a young Hawaiian woman in Auli’I Cravalho and second Moana is her own hero without a love interest. This feels like a big step forward for Disney, who has made big recent strides forward in promoting its female characters. The film also features voice-work from Dwayne Johnson as Maui the demi-god. Ron Clements and John Musker lead the creative team (they have given us some of our most beloved Disney films like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin). In theaters November 23^rd. Check out the trailer.

Allied

Each new Robert Zemeckis film feels like a big deal, as he is a filmmaker known for pushing the visual envelope forward while telling big stories. His new film, Allied, is a WWII action romance about two spies working for the Allies who marry each other and work together, but what if one of them was really a double-agent working for the Nazis? The film also happens to have two of Hollywood’s most dynamic leading actors in Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard playing its spies. I think this is a sleeper for film of the year. In theaters November 23^rd.

La La Land

Bursting onto the scene with Whiplash, writer/director Damien Chazelle is back with a musical dramedy and he has J.K. Simmons with him again. We need more good musicals; this one looks magical and sublimely charming. It stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling (who has fantastic chemistry) and is about a jazz pianist who falls for an aspiring actress in Los Angeles. In theaters December 16^th. Check out the trailer.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Set right before the beginning of A New Hope, Rogue One is about the team of rebels who steal the plans for the Death Star. Director Gareth Edwards describes the film as a war movie, set in the Star Wars Universe. Writer Tony Gilroy is working with Edwards presently finishing up the final editing process, getting the tone just right. Everything we have seen so far is very promising. Plus, the cast, fronted by Felicity Jones, is very good. This is the film I am most looking forward to seeing. In theaters December 16^th. Check out the trailer.

Passengers

Sony’s most high profile film of 2016 is Passengers, a sci-fi adventure about a spacecraft shuttling thousands of people to a distant colony planet that experiences a malfunction in one of its sleep chambers awakening two passengers 60 years early. The story sounds intriguing alone and then you throw in the very charming leads Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt and Passengers suddenly jumps to the top of a lot of ‘Most Anticipated’ lists. If Lawrence and Pratt have chemistry, I cannot imagine this not being highly entertaining. Rising star Morten Tyldum is behind the camera. In theaters December 21^st.

A few others to look out for: Queen of Katwe, American Honey and Lion. 

Movies Spotlight – Upcoming 2015 Films (Fall & Winter) – July 2015

Now that summer is winding down, let’s look at all the great films scheduled to be released this fall and winter – and there are a lot. I think 2015 will be remembered for its prestige films, looking back, even though, so far, it has been a year of blockbusters like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jurassic World and Inside Out.

September

Starting with September, Gavin O’Connor’s new western is finally coming to theaters (after a very troubled production, including losing directors and multiple actors). The film stars Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor and is about a woman who asks her ex-lover to help her save her outlaw husband from a lethal gang out to kill him. I’m looking forward to the film for a few reasons: I love westerns, it will be nice to see Portman is films again, and O’Connor’s last film was the excellent sports-drama Warrior.

Director Scott Cooper is known for his character driven dramas (Crazy Heart and Out of the Furnace). His new film, Black Mass, takes on the notorious South Boston criminal Whitey Bulger (an infamously violent man who became an FBI informant to stop the mob from infiltrating his territory). Cooper has assembled a fantastic cast, including: Johnny Depp (as Whitey Bulger), Dakota Johnson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton, and Corey Stoll. Here is the trailer.

The film I’m most looking forward to in September is Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario, a mystery crime-drama starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin. It debuted at Cannes to critical acclaim and lots of positive buzz. Sicario looks like a brilliant, exciting and raw thriller. Here is the trailer.

A potentially fun comedy in September is Nancy Meyers’s The Intern. It is about a 70-year-old widower who is bored in retirement and looks to get back to work, joining an online fashion site as an intern. The film stars Robert De Niro as the Intern and Anne Hathaway as his boss (and founder of the company). Here is the trailer.

Closing out the month is Baltasar Kormakur’s action thriller Everest. The film looks intense and Kormakur has put together a strong cast, including: Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, KeiraKnightley, Robin Wright, and John Hawkes. While Kormakur is known for making action films (like Contraband and 2 Guns), the great cast should bring a dramatic, character-driven dynamic to this thriller. Here is the trailer.

October

September features some potentially very good films, October has even better films, starting with Ridley Scott’s The Martian. Scott excels at creating epic and visually astounding space-set narratives and sci-fi imagery. The Martian tells the story of astronaut Mark Watney, who is abandoned on Mars after his crew believes him killed in a massive storm that pushed them off the planet. Now, Mark has to use his intellect and practical know-how to survive, while his crew races back to save him. The film sounds a little like Interstellar, and Matt Damon again plays the man left for dead alone on an alien planet, but thematically the films are completely different. In addition to Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, and Kate Mara also star. It’s among the five films I’m most looking forward to seeing. Here is the trailer.

Another film I cannot wait to see is Justin Kurzel’s William Shakespeare adaptation Macbeth, especially after playing well at Cannes. Kurzel’s film looks aesthetically phenomenal and boasts a super cast, including: Michael Fassbender (as Macbeth), Marion Cotilard (as Lady Macbeth), David Thewlis, Elizabeth Debicki, and Sean Harris. The play (and film) are about Macbeth, a duke of Scotland, who receives a prophecy that he will one day be King. Consumed by this ambition, he murders the King and takes the throne for himself. Here is the trailer.

I really like the work of British director Joe Wright. He helms a new version of the Peter Pan story, a prequel of sorts called Pan. On one hand, it looks great with astounding aesthetics and a strong cast, but on the other hand I'm a little worried that it might be too much of a kid's movie (something that has plagued many past Peter Pan films). I'm willing to give it a chance. Here is the trailer.

A film that I cannot quite pin down is Robert Zemeckis’s The Walk, which tells the story of Philippe Petit’s high-wire walk from the roof of one World Trade Center Twin Tower to the other. It is an incredible story, but it is already told wonderfully in James Marsh’s documentary Man on Wire. Zemeckis is a great filmmaker (Back to the Future, Cast Away, and recently Flight), but his film does not feel right thematically and how can he top Man on Wire? His film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, and Charlotte Le Bon. Here is the trailer.

Yet another highly anticipated film to be released in October is Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs. The film went through directors and lead actors on the road to settling on Boyle and Michael Fassbender (although, I still would have liked to have seen the DavidFincher-Christian Bale iteration). The film is written by Aaron Sorkin and also stars Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, and Katherine Waterston. It looks like an interesting biopic of one of the great innovators of our time. Here is the trailer.

Netflix made a play to get into the filmmaking business when it acquired the rights to Beasts of No Nation, which it will debut October 16^th. The film is written and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (who also directed the first season of True Detective) and stars Idris Elba. It’s about child soldiers fighting in an unnamed African nation’s civil war. As a big fan of Fukunaga’s work and Elba, I’m very much looking forward to this. Could Nexflix get an Oscar nomination?

Horror has always been a passion of writer-director Guillermo del Toro. His new film, Crimson Peak, looks like his version of the classic haunted house horror narrative. Aesthetically, it looks wonderfully gothic. It also features a top cast, including: Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, and Charlie Hunnam. Here is the trailer.

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have had one of the most fruitful partnerships in Hollywood, from films to producing excellent television (I’m specifically thinking of Band of Brothers). Their latest endeavor with Spielberg behind the camera and Hanks starring is the cold-war thriller Bridge of Spies. It’s about the man who negotiated an exchange of prisoners under extreme political pressures (with all-out nuclear war always looming). Here is the trailer.

November

Daniel Craig has enjoined his time as James Bond, starring in some of the best films of the series. Returning once again, along with director Sam Mendes, Craig next 007 adventure is called Spectre, where he will seek out the criminal organization behind the events that Bond faced in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Most of Skyfall’s cast is returning (M, Q and Moneypenny) and joining the cast are Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Dave Bautista, Monica Bellucci, and Andrew Scott. It looks like another great Bond film. Here is the trailer.

Brooklyn was one of the Sundance Film Festival’s most buzzed about films, coming out of the festival as a potential Oscar favorite. The film is directed by John Crowley, written by Nick Hornby, and stars Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen and Domhnall Gleeson. It’s about a young Irish woman who leaves Ireland in the 1950s to come to New York, but she finds herself torn between the two places and two men, the man she has fallen for in Brooklyn and the man she loves when she returns to Ireland. Here is the trailer.

For many, November’s most anticipated film is The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, the closing chapter of the saga. I’m particularly looking forward to the film because it will be interesting to finally see Katniss make tough decisions (presumably) and actually be involved in the action, as District 13 engages in all-out revolution against the Capital. Jennifer Lawrence is excellent as Katniss; Francis Lawrence returns behind the camera. Here is the trailer.

I really liked the Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Jonathan Levine collaboration 50/50. There are back with a new film called X-Mas. It’s about three friends who annually travel to New York City on Christmas Eve to get drunk and otherwise have fun. This year their tradition might be coming to an end, so they embark on a mission to find the biggest and best party. Joining Gordon-Levitt and Rogen in the cast are Lizzy Caplan and Anthony Mackie.

Pixar and Disney released one of their better recent films this summer with Inside Out. They have another film coming in November called The Good Dinosaur that sounds just as good. The logline of the film asks: What if the meteor that killed-off the Dinosaurs never hit the Earth, leading to a world in which humans and dinosaurs co-exist? Peter Sohn is heading up the creative team (directing his first feature, though he did make the great short Partly Cloudy which played in front of Up). Here is the trailer.

A film that sounds awesome but has so far flown under the radar is the new sci-fi drama from writer-director Jeff Nicholas called Midnight Special. It’s about a father and son who go on the run after the dad learns that his son has developed special powers. It stars Michael Shannon, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Joel Edgerton, and Sam Shepard. Nicholas also made the very good dramas Take Shelter and Mud.

Eddie Redmayne, who won the 2015 Best Actor Oscar for The Theory of Everything, is back again with what sounds like another Oscar-worthy performance. This time in Tom Hooper’s new film The Danish Girl, where he plays Einar Wegener, the husband of famous Danish artist Gerda Wegener who painted him as a woman. As the painting gained popularity, Einar began to change his appearance, dressing and associating more as a lady, which he named Lili Elbe. With the support of his wife, he attempted the first ever male to female sex reassignment surgery. The film also stars Alicia Vikander (who’s blowing up this year) and Matthias Schoenaerts. The film is likely an Oscar favorite.

December

And finally we get to December. To kick us off, here’s In the Heart of the Sea, a film scheduled to be released in the Spring but scored such outstanding reviews in its test screenings that Warner Bros. pushed it all the back to awards season to compete for Oscars. It’s directed by Ron Howard and stars Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Benjamin Walker, and (your new Spider-Man) Tom Holland. The film’s about Thomas Nickerson, the ship captain that encountered the famous white whale Moby Dick, inspiring Herman Melville’s novel. Here is the trailer.

One of the best reviewed films at this year’s Cannes Film Festival was Carol, a romantic drama set during the 1950s in America. It’s about two women who fall in love and dream of a different world in which they could be together. It’s directed by dramatic filmmaking master Todd Haynes and stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara (who won Best Actress at Cannes).

The biggest and hopefully greatest blockbuster of the winter season is Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. I cannot wait to see it. J.J. Abrams seems like a god choice to take over the creative reigns for the franchise. The film will mix characters we know (Luke, Leia, and Han Solo) with new characters, continuing the saga. The cast sees many of the original actors returning (Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford) and a mix of great new actors, including: Oscar Issac, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, and Gwendoline Christie. Here is the trailer.

It sure seems like Olive Stone’s best films are behind him. That said, he is back with a new politically charged biopic Snowden. It’s about Edward Snowden, the man who basically destroyed his own life to inform the American people what the government was doing (i.e. spying on them). The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Zachary Quinto, Melissa Leo, and Tom Wilkinson. Let’s hope Stone finds his form again, as this is an important story that people need to hear/see. Here is the trailer.

Another very fruitful partnership between director and actor has been between David O. Russell and Jennifer Lawrence (and Bradley Cooper), they have made Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle together. Their new film is Joy. It’s about inventor and entrepreneur Joy Mangano, creator of the Miracle Mop and many other products.  The film seems like an Oscar favorite, with a great cast (in addition to Lawrence), including: Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro.

The film that I predicted would be the 2016 Academy Awards frontrunner for Best Picture is The Revenant. It’s the new adventure/western/drama from Alejandro G. Inarritu (who directed Birdman, last year’s winner). It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, and Will Poulter. It’s about Hugh Glass, a frontiersman who is left for dead after he is severely injured in the wilderness by compatriot John Fitzgerald. Somehow he survives, regaining his strength, and sets out on a mission of vengeance against Fitzgerald.

2015 might be the year we finally see the resurgence of the western (with Slow West, Jane Got a Gun, and The Revenant); its most high profile entry is Quentin Tarantino’s new film The Hateful Eight, a post-Civil War narrative that sees a group of bounty hunters who find shelter from a blizzard only to get pulled into a plot of betrayal and deception. Tarantino has a great mix of actors with Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Walton Goggins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Bruce Dern (among others).

Other Potential Releases

These two films don’t have firm release dates yet, but could very likely come out in 2015 and compete for awards. First is Derek Cianfrance’s new drama The Light Between Oceans, which stars Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Rachel Weisz. It’s about husband and wife lighthouse keepers who find a baby the washes ashore in Western Australia. The second is Lenny Abrahamson’s new drama Room about a boy who is raised exclusively with the small confines of a small shed. It stars Brie Larson, William H. Macy and Joan Allen.

Anna Karenina (2012) – Review

Review: Anna Karenina is highly ambitious, lush and phenomenal – a completely insane adaptation of a literary masterpiece. The film is about Anna, a Russian aristocrat in the late 19^th century who throws away everything to engage in an affair with Count Vronsky.

Most literary adaptations are fairly straightforward – some rigorously follow their source material, while others take liberties. With Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy’s novel is immensely dense with rich detail and tons of characters. It is not just about Anna and her story; it is about Tolstoy’s Russia at that time and place, every nuance and intricate facet of daily life. Deciding that trying to make a completely faithful adaptation of such an extensive work would probably lead to a dull film (and still not quite do it justice). Instead, director Joe Wright has made something entirely different and brave.

Anna Karenina seems a prime candidate to be just a straightforward period drama/costume drama (and Wright has done well making films like that in the past), but his adaptation is dangerously ambitious (much like say The Clash’s Sandinista! or the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer’s Cloud Atlas from earlier this year) and highly stylized. Taking such a bold risk leaves the film exposed to be very polarizing (something some will find brilliant and others very frustrating). Fans of the book that want a very faithful adaptation (who seem to fail to understand that film is a different medium than that of a novel and thus stories should be told in different ways) will likely not like the film.

Wright sets the film really in two areas – for Moscow and St. Petersburg, the scenes take place inside a theatre with actors moving between changing sets, backdrops and artifices. Characters play their roles within society and government, as scripted by the social conventions of the time. While all the time, in view of an audience (the other members of the society) constantly watching their every move. Everything is a tempered act put on for the benefit of others. The poorer people of the cities occupy the rigging and catwalks, while the grand ballrooms and government halls take center stage. The theatre is used as a metaphor by Wright to express the restraint and superficiality of Anna’s world – nothing is real. Wright’s camera is also an active part of these scenes, vigorously gliding through the sets and around characters (almost in a whirlwind). At first, this whole concept is strange and even unsettling, but as the film progresses and the audience becomes accustom to the world of the film it becomes common and not as noticeable (making the final shot of the film more staggering – almost as if the audience has forgotten that all the action in the cities has been confined to a theatre with nothing but fake backdrops).

The second area that Wright uses is a much more naturalistic space, which accompanies Levin when he returns to his country home and works in his fields (they are actual fields). Wright does this to both juxtapose the differences in city and country life and to illustrate the difference between Levin (a romantic) and those wrapped up in the high society life of the cities (where everything seems just a show put on, void of deeper emotion). Visually, Wright makes sure to give the countryside a very sweeping natural beauty (as opposed to the subterfuge of the changing theatre sets).

Wright’s film is also very much about love. He focuses on two stories: Anna’s affair with Vronsky and Levin’s love of Kitty. Anna begins the film naïve to love. She is happy because she does not really know what it is, that is until she meets Vronsky and feels something so strongly that she risks her place in society (a society completely constructed and ruled by men) to be with him, seemingly to forget or not care that she is but a player on the stage, and that everyone is watching her. Vronsky is very charming, but never feels completely trustworthy as a hero (someone that will not break Anna’s heart, like say Levin is to Kitty). This feeling that the audience has translates to Anna’s perception of Vronsky as well. She never completely trusts him, which sends her into fits of jealousy and self-destructive behavior, and yet she loves him above all else leading to her losing everything to be with him. In the construct of Wright’s narrative (the cities being staged in a theatre), Anna goes off book. She does not say the lines she is given and hit the marks laid out for her. She disrupts the order of things and thus stands out amongst the others and becomes an outcast. There are scenes as well with her husband Karenin who seems out of step in his own realm (in the government meetings) when he faces the truth about Anna’s affair. Wright’s narrative and visual structure for the film visually illustrates just how disruptive Anna is in such a rigid society of social rules.

Levin seems lost in the society in the city, constantly calling on Oblonsky (Anna’s brother, a man who constantly cheats on his wife and yet is still accepted among his peers) for help to fit in. His love is Kitty, a young woman just debuting in society. Kitty is fascinated and lured in by the colors and spectacle of it all. She does not see that it is all superficial, and rejects Levin initially. But, she comes to see the flaws of her beloved high society and is hurt and jaded by the lack of true emotional connection. Thus, when Levin realizes that she is his true love and tries to win her heart a second time, she accepts. When Kitty moves with Levin away from the fixed structure of the city and into the naturalism of the country, she throws off the strict terms that governed her conduct, allowing her true self to shine (a person with a kind heart). While Anna and Vronsky’s story ends in tragedy, condemned by the aristocracy, Levin and Kitty strive. This again can be taken as juxtaposition between the intransigent and shallow society of the city and the warmth and community of the country (also expressed by Levin working the fields with his serfs).

Visually, the film feels a bit frantic, as Wright’s camera is constantly moving at a brisk pace and the sets are constantly changing on the fly as characters move between spaces. However, the end result of all this kinetic energy is that Wright has formulated the film as an emotional ballet (of visual splendor). The production design also plays into this, as the colors and costumes very much represent the characters. Anna, in particular, has an array of beautiful outfits – their color scheme seemingly matching her mood, while Vronsky is primarily in white (saving her from a life without love) until he leaves her. Levin wears earthy tones and Kitty loses her refined garments once she takes on her life in the country. All of Wright’s visual choices support the narrative.

Now, with all this visual radiance and spectacle and Wright’s imposed narrative device, what about the characters? This film is not easy on the audience. First, they must adjust to Wright’s cinematic world (which takes a few scenes, because he does not ease the viewer into it – everything flies at the viewer all at once). Then, the audience is introduced to tons of characters, many of which play small but specific roles. However, Wrights does do a great job with his main characters, though at the same time Anna’s motivations may seem not spelled out enough for some viewers. She lives in a marriage somewhat void of real affection, attraction and love. Thus, when Vronsky (who also happens to be very handsome) courts her, she is taken in by him and feels things that she never has before, which drives her decisions. While the audience pities her, as she loses everything, she is not overly likable (like Kitty or Levin), which then makes it more difficult for the audience to strongly connect with her (which is why Wright gives a lot of screen time to Levin and Kitty as well). She is just someone who thinks she is above the rules and ultimately pays a heavy price.

Anna Karenina is a classic tragedy, adapted many times over, but maybe never as ambitiously and visually stimulatingly as this.

Technical, aesthetic & acting achievements: Joe Wright has always had a knack for using a very fluid camera, from the dancing/party scenes in Pride & Prejudice to the action scenes in Hanna, as well as his fantastic long takes in his films (notably in Atonement). In Anna Karenina, Wrights seems to have built off his work in Hanna (which was his most visually aggressive film before this). Much like the final scene in Black Swan in which the camera seems to dance with Nina, his camera here seems completely untethered, free to roam anywhere and everywhere, seamlessly transitioning between sets as characters move in and out and backdrops change. It is breathtaking. While most filmmaking, especially in Hollywood (but it is also true among indie films), seems to be becoming more conventional, it is relieving to see an auteur who is still willing to take big risks, and with this film they have paid off.

Dario Marianelli’s score has a wonderful Russian vibe to it (as it probably should). It is beautiful, as it anticipates and accompanies the emotional turmoil and triumphs of the characters. It feels both intimate and extravagant in different moments, much like the film itself (here is a suite). Seamus McGarvey’s cinematography is exquisite, elegant and magnificent, especially when the film takes on a more naturalistic look (where the use of light is angelic). Sarah Greenwood’s production design, however, steals the show (which is saying a lot as Marianelli and McGarvey both deliver some of the year’s best work). The array of colors is astounding. Each costume (designer by Jacqueline Durran) or set is wonderfully crafted to fit the tone of each character or scene (reminding me at times of David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago).

The cast is dazzling as well, with tons of great little bit parts and strong leads. Matthew Macfayden and Ruth Wilson (who is almost unrecognizable, at least she was for me – knowing her solely as the scene stealing Alice on Luther) stand out in small roles. Both Domhnall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander deliver breakthrough performances as Levin and Kitty, respectively. While most of the characters seem to be shallow and void of deeper emotion, Gleeson and Vikander exude a longing for true connection (which is why, ultimately they find each other). I expect they will both be receiving lots of acting gigs in the next few years. Jude Law has the difficult role of playing Karenin, a man who feels but actively tries to shut himself off from his emotions. His performance is understated and wonderful. Aaron Taylor-Johnson has all the charisma and bluster to make a great Vronsky. He also has a terrific mischievousness to his performance that work very well. Keira Knightley has found her niche in costume dramas. She is ravishing, magnificently gowned in a lush and elegant wardrobe throughout. But she does more than just look the part. Knightley captures the extreme fits of anguish and joyous highs of Anna’s affair with Vronsky, eliciting pity and in the end even heartbreak among the audience as Anna’s life comes to a tragic end. It is another excellent performance from her collaborating with Wright.

Summary & score: Anna Karenina is not going to work for everyone, as it is sure to garner opposing reactions among viewers. However, for those willing to take it in, it is an artistically rewarding and narratively grand experience. 8/10