Pride & Prejudice

I used to think that I wouldn’t like any version of Pride & Prejudice more than the BBC version. But Joe Wright is amazing. I think I’ve read Pride & Prejudice at least once a year since high school and passages from that book are burned into my brain. When watching the images alone in Wright’s Pride & Prejudice I can almost hear Jane Austen’s prose describing the scenes – the way the house is situated, how the characters move, even the way the Bennet’s are viewed; it’s an accomplishment on the part of Wright – he’s let Austen seep into the core of this film and it shows.

I would be remiss not to mention Keira Knightly’s performance in this film. I think she embodied Lizzie and brought an era to life. If I had been born in the era of Austen I have a feeling I would have been very much like the Lizzie Knightly portrays in this film.

Joe Wright is an amazing director and he’s proven it even with his short filmography. I can’t wait to see where he goes in the years to come.




Mrs. Bennet: Have you no consideration for my poor nerves?
Mr. Bennet: You mistake me, my dear. I have the utmost respect for your nerves. They've been my constant companion these twenty years.

The Soloist

If you have seen The Soloist you know that it is in fact a message movie. If you read this blog you know that I loathe message movies to the very core of my being. However, if all message movies were more like The Soloist I would not hate message movies like I do.

The Soloist does what a message movie should do. Instead of beating their message into the audience every few minutes and making the actual story and characters of the film secondary, Joe Wright & Susannah Grant found the way to make their message resonate to the viewer – they focused on the characters and where their journey was taking them. By participating in their journey we not only connect with Steve & Nathaniel, but see the problem of the homeless population the way that Steve sees it and this is what makes The Soloist an effective message movie.

In my initial review of The Soloist I stated that I was slightly upset that even though the film is as beautiful as it is that the ending was a slight downer. Since that review I have seen the film two more times and I no longer feel that the ending of The Soloist is a downer. In fact, I think quite the opposite. The ending is not uplifting but it is inspiring; Steve & Nathaniel both end the film in a new and more enlightened place in their lives and their journey with one another will continue. It is a natural ending, and one befitting of the real-life plight of Nathaniel Ayers.

I am glad I have been able to add this masterpiece to my collection. I can only hope that when awards season comes around that Joe Wright, Robert Downey Jr, and everyone else on this film are not swept aside.

The Soloist

Poster The Soloist
Originally uploaded by Cine Fanatico

I went to The Soloist with some friends. We had all ages in our little group: my friends daughter was the teen, my friend was the middle-aged range, her mother was the senior and I represented the twenties. I have to say that it was a lot of fun.

On thing that this viewing proved was that we all think that the performances of Downey and Foxx sell The Soloist. However, what our teenage contingent did perfectly illustrate for me is that the more experimental sections of the film will throw audience members off of the film.

What we all did agree on is that Joe Wright made an amazing movie and we hope that people won’t forget about it.

The Soloist

I try to post about the movies I watch in the order that I watch them, but I just left The Soloist and I feel the need to break that pattern and right about this movie while it is very fresh in my mind.

As you can pick up from the trailers The Soloist is based on the true story of L.A. Time writer Steve Lopez and his coverage of Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a Juliard musician who has ended up homeless on the streets of Los Angeles. It is a story of a city, a group of people, and an unlikely friendship. However, more than anything this is a movie about faith.

The faith theme that runs through this movie is not limited to the traditional “god” or religious faith that will immediately spring into people’s minds, though that is in the film; The Soloist deals with faith in a great many forms – the faith between friends, faith that there is a purpose to life, faith that you can push past struggles, and most importantly the need to have something to believe in to go forward every day as the world tries to fight against you. In this movie Steve tries to find the sense in Nathaniels situation in life and he struggles to reach out to the confused, the lonely, and those whom he would never interact with if he didn’t have Nathaniel in his life; Steve operates on the faith or belief that Nathaniel has a story that is worth discovering and to understand that he needs to see part of the world that Nathaniel is in.

What kills me about The Soloist is that the release date is going to kill this movie. This is a movie that should not have been pushed into a month so near summer. It’s going to alienate the audience this movie deserves because they are going to expect a much lighter, cheerier movie that they will see. Parts of The Soloist are down right experimental and that is going to force The Soloist into a much smaller audience than it might have received in a fall/awards season month.

Jamie Foxx will be lauded for his performance as Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, as he should because he is in the Dustin Hoffman/Rainman category of greatness, but I have a feeling that because of this Robert Downey Jr. will not get as much credit as he deserves. The character of Lopez is real, the straight man trying to pull his life together and though he goes through quite an arch in the film the transformation of Lopez from beginning to end is much more subtle than the character of Ayers. My favorite scenes in the film were actually when Downey was reacting to his situation with Ayers; two notable ones were when he first listens to Ayers play the cello and the emotions that run through his eyes alone are the kind that make you think he has become another person, and a scene where Lopez quietly breaks down to his ex-wife about how Nathaniel has slowly broken his heart. I know Downey is a phenomenal actor but he never ceases to amaze me.

The only think that disappointed me about The Soloist is that the film is a bit more of a downer than it appears to be in the trailers. However, the film hits perfect notes all the way through, and tacking on a “uplifting” ending would not be true to the characters or the film.

Director: Joe Wright
Writer: Susannah Grant
Steve Lopez: Robert Downey Jr.
Nathaniel Ayers: Jamie Foxx
Mary Whitman: Catherine Keener

Pride & Prejudice (BBC)

pride & prejudice-020
Originally uploaded by kapvera

I know that this is not really a movie either, it’s a mini-series, but I never saw it on tv – in fact, the first time I saw Pride & Prejudice was on VHS and I checked it out from the library. Yeah, that sounds so old and gives me fond memories of high school. The reason I am including this mini-series here is that prior to the recent Joe Wright version of Pride & Prejudice the mini-series was the definitive version.

This mini-series is about six hours long and I never thought another adaptation of the book could be made that could top this version. What the BBC mini-series has that no other filmic version does is save for the books epilogue the entire story is in the mini-series. To the best of my knowledge no film version of Pride & Prejudice has been able to include everything in the novel.

However, after seeing the newest version I do have to say that I like the cast in the Joe Wright version just a little bit more. Both casts are excellent, but the BBC version uses actors that are pretty obviously not the same age as the characters, and what bothers me most is that they are semi-close to the age but obviously skew older. This stands out to me most in the character of Lizzie who is supposed to be about 20 through most of the tale and very obviously looks to be at least in her mid-twenties.

What I find most interesting though is the differences in the characters between the two versions; I think it is a perfect example of how a different director/writer can totally change the feel of something. This is most obvious through Mr. & Mrs. Bennet (played by Benjamin Whitrow & Alison Steadman in the BBC, and Donald Sutherland & Brenda Blethyn in the Wright version). In the BBC version the parents are shrill, aggravating and seem to dislike each other intensely, and very rarely seem to get along with or really care for their daughters and Mrs. Bennet seems to only want to get her daughters married to get money; in the Wright version Mr. Bennet is calm and caring, showing affection for all of his daughters and even his wife, and Mrs. Bennet’s obsession for getting her daughters married obviously seems to stem from wanting them to be taken care of.

Both versions are very good, and I highly recommend watching both if you’re interested in seeing the differences in how the same story can be adapted. However, I do have to say that if push comes to shove I would chose the Joe Wright version over the BBC version simply because of the choices that were made in putting that film together to make it a beautiful whole.

Director: Simon Langton
Writer: Andrew Davies
Lizzie: Jennifer Ehle
Mr. Darcy: Colin Firth
Jane: Susannah Harker
Lydia: Julia Sawalha
Mrs. Bennet: Alison Steadman
Mr. Bennet: Benjamin Whitrow
Mr. Bingley: Crispin Bonham-Carter
Kitty: Polly Maberly
Mary: Lucy Briers
Miss Bingley: Anna Chancellor
Mrs. Hurst: Lucy Robinson
Whickham: Adrian Lukis
Mr. Collins: David Bamber
Charlotte: Lucy Scott

Elizabeth Bennet: Lady Catherine, in marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman, I am a gentleman's daughter. So far we are equal.

Pride & Prejudice

Pride & Prejudice
Originally uploaded by ala9489

The first time I heard they were making a feature length version of Pride & Prejudice I was mystified; the book is one of my favorites and after seeing the BBC mini series based on the book I really didn’t see how a feature length version could be made that would rival the BBC version and stay true to the book – it’s a really complex book. Of course, as I loved the book I was hopeful.

I adore this version of Pride & Prejudice. I think that it was brilliantly cast, visually stunning and kept the right amount of imformation in the book and changed certain things in a way that still kept them true to the book but made them work better for a two hour movie. This was an insane challenge for a writer and a director and I think that both mastered it and were able to create a wonderful adaptation.

Pride & Prejudice focuses on Lizzie Bennet and her family in the 19th century. They are a proper British family living in the countryside and are unfortunately burdened by having five daughters and no sons. As such the family is focused on one thing – getting the daughters married and hopefully married well. The two eldest daughters Jane & Lizze fall into the path of a new neighbor Mr. Bingley and his friend Mr. Darcy and their lives are changed forever. Bingley and Jane fall in love but are forced apart by his friends and family who believe her inferior and Darcy falls in love with Lizzie who does not return his affections. This story is classic and one of the romance films I actually enjoy shockingly enough – probably because it is populated with genuine characters that are fully developed.

I cannot review this film without giving props to Joe Wright. I had never heard of him before this film but will undoubtedly try to see his movies more. This film is beautiful visually and as I have already stated spot on in its translation, acting and every other element. This film is so well put together that you forget that it is put together at all – you don’t think about the editing, the score the acting, the costumes, and that is the goal of making a good movie.

Director: Joe Wright
Writer: Deborah Moggach
Lizzie: Kiera Knightly
Jane: Rosamund Pike
Mary: Talulah Riley
Lydia: Jena Malone
Kitty: Carey Mulligan
Mr. Bennet: Donald Sutherland
Mrs. Bennet: Brenda Blethyn
Charlotte Lucas: Claudie Blakley
Mr. Bingley: Simon Woods
Caroline Bingley: Kelly Reilly
Mr. Darcy: Matthew Macfadyen
Mr. Wickham: Rupert Friend
Mr. Collins: Tom Hollander
Lady Catherine de bourg: Judi Dench

Elizabeth Bennet: And that put paid to it. I wonder who first discovered the power of poetry in driving away love?
Mr. Darcy: I thought that poetry was the food of love.
Elizabeth Bennet: Of a fine stout love, it may. But if it is only a vague inclination I'm convinced one poor sonnet will kill it stone dead
Mr. Darcy: So what do you recommend to encourage affection?
Elizabeth Bennet: Dancing. Even if one's partner is barely tolerable