I've never read Jane Austen. Not so far, at least. So, I couldn't draw parallels and recognize all the characters of the novels that frequently interweave in conversations along the film.
That didn't prevent it from sucking me in from the first minutes.
Jane Austen apart, I think this is a great piece of cinema, for the exquisite acting it displays and the rich script. I've seen a lot of movies. Really, a big lot. And the problem with it is that after a while you sort of start to see the strings behind the curtain, in most of the movies you watch... you can't really get inside the story as easy as you used to before; you notice every little fake acting, error, plot hole, you name it.
This was a refreshing exception from that. The acting was so real, pleasant and captivating. The story is catching you from the beginning and doesn't let go; the characters literally grow on you.
It had some real life drama, but all sweetened by the warmth of the friendship that shines between all the female leads and the way they managed to always care for each other through the rough moments.
And the acting is gripping. The emotional range displayed, astonishing. The quiet looks of Jocelyn when Grigg starts paying attention to Sylvia or when he talks about her in the library say more than a thousand words; the guilty look in Prudie's eyes when she looks across the street meaning to cross over towards the boy she's attracted to, are just a couple samples of perfect expressiveness without words.
As opposed to the main bulk of Hollywood movies lately, in which most of the female characters are more or less displayed as tits and ass, this one manages to portray women as the truly marvelous creatures they are; deep, complex beings, strong and fragile, beautiful and insecure at once, a rainbow of emotional paradoxes.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy tits and ass in a film as much as the next guy, but most of the time you can't help feeling that a lot of female characters miss a central piece of their personality puzzle, across a lot of movies. This is one of those films which brings back that missing piece of the puzzle, and it does that with an underlying profound sense of serenity and grace.
I say this one is definitely a keeper, in my book.
9/10
That didn't prevent it from sucking me in from the first minutes.
Jane Austen apart, I think this is a great piece of cinema, for the exquisite acting it displays and the rich script. I've seen a lot of movies. Really, a big lot. And the problem with it is that after a while you sort of start to see the strings behind the curtain, in most of the movies you watch... you can't really get inside the story as easy as you used to before; you notice every little fake acting, error, plot hole, you name it.
This was a refreshing exception from that. The acting was so real, pleasant and captivating. The story is catching you from the beginning and doesn't let go; the characters literally grow on you.
It had some real life drama, but all sweetened by the warmth of the friendship that shines between all the female leads and the way they managed to always care for each other through the rough moments.
And the acting is gripping. The emotional range displayed, astonishing. The quiet looks of Jocelyn when Grigg starts paying attention to Sylvia or when he talks about her in the library say more than a thousand words; the guilty look in Prudie's eyes when she looks across the street meaning to cross over towards the boy she's attracted to, are just a couple samples of perfect expressiveness without words.
As opposed to the main bulk of Hollywood movies lately, in which most of the female characters are more or less displayed as tits and ass, this one manages to portray women as the truly marvelous creatures they are; deep, complex beings, strong and fragile, beautiful and insecure at once, a rainbow of emotional paradoxes.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy tits and ass in a film as much as the next guy, but most of the time you can't help feeling that a lot of female characters miss a central piece of their personality puzzle, across a lot of movies. This is one of those films which brings back that missing piece of the puzzle, and it does that with an underlying profound sense of serenity and grace.
I say this one is definitely a keeper, in my book.
9/10