Evening
Evening, directed by Lajos Koltai, is not a great film. But it is not the bomb that many critics have said it is.
Adapted by Susan Minot and Michael Cunningham (The Hours) from Minot's book, Evening is a story about the regrets one might feel before they are about to die.
Vanessa Redgrave plays the older Ann, who is fading in and out of consciousness. She talks about people that her daughters Constance (Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette) have never heard of. She speaks of her one true love Harris and mentions someone else named Buddy.
As we flashback to the younger Ann (Claire Danes) we see her arriving in Newport to attend her friend Lila's (Mamie Gummer) wedding. The young Ann is a singer who lives in New York and rather bohemian. It seems that Lila's brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) has a thing for Ann, but it is a bit more complicated than it appears. Before Lila's wedding she confides in Ann that she does not really love her future husband but instead has always loved Harris (Patrick Wilson) who does not love her back. It turns out that Ann is also quite attracted to Harris.
The film is beautiful to look at. And there is some terrific acting by Redgrave, Eileen Atkins as the nurse Mrs. Brown, Glenn Close as Lila's mother, and Meryl Streep in a cameo as the older Lila. Richardson does her best with an underwritten role as the sister who has it all. But Colette is wonderful as the sister who is still trying to figure out her life. The real find of the film is Gummer who is very good as the young Lila. Dancy is also good as the troubled Buddy. Unfortunately, Danes just doesn't cut it as the young Ann. She is too restrained. And Wilson seems to be miscast as Harris. One critic said that in the book Harris was dark and mysterious.
In the film he is very bland. I was wondering what it was that everyone saw in him.
I thought that the present time worked better than the flashbacks but there were good scenes in both parts of the film. The film held my interest but I did think that it was a tad too long. To me Evening is worth seeing for the fine acting, the beautiful scenery and the fact that it makes us think about regret and mortality.
Adapted by Susan Minot and Michael Cunningham (The Hours) from Minot's book, Evening is a story about the regrets one might feel before they are about to die.
Vanessa Redgrave plays the older Ann, who is fading in and out of consciousness. She talks about people that her daughters Constance (Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette) have never heard of. She speaks of her one true love Harris and mentions someone else named Buddy.
As we flashback to the younger Ann (Claire Danes) we see her arriving in Newport to attend her friend Lila's (Mamie Gummer) wedding. The young Ann is a singer who lives in New York and rather bohemian. It seems that Lila's brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) has a thing for Ann, but it is a bit more complicated than it appears. Before Lila's wedding she confides in Ann that she does not really love her future husband but instead has always loved Harris (Patrick Wilson) who does not love her back. It turns out that Ann is also quite attracted to Harris.
The film is beautiful to look at. And there is some terrific acting by Redgrave, Eileen Atkins as the nurse Mrs. Brown, Glenn Close as Lila's mother, and Meryl Streep in a cameo as the older Lila. Richardson does her best with an underwritten role as the sister who has it all. But Colette is wonderful as the sister who is still trying to figure out her life. The real find of the film is Gummer who is very good as the young Lila. Dancy is also good as the troubled Buddy. Unfortunately, Danes just doesn't cut it as the young Ann. She is too restrained. And Wilson seems to be miscast as Harris. One critic said that in the book Harris was dark and mysterious.
In the film he is very bland. I was wondering what it was that everyone saw in him.
I thought that the present time worked better than the flashbacks but there were good scenes in both parts of the film. The film held my interest but I did think that it was a tad too long. To me Evening is worth seeing for the fine acting, the beautiful scenery and the fact that it makes us think about regret and mortality.
posted by Film Fanatic | 7:41 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home