What a great flick, it’s easy to see why Kate Winslet won the Golden Globe. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but I loved it. I’m not usually one to like this sort of story. Ralph Fiennes is fantastic at playing closed, somewhat awkward types. David Kross (not that one) really inpressed me as well.
p.s. I went last night to a ten pm showing and 2/3 people I went with fell asleep. Probably not for the action adventure only crowd.
The whole the Rudin/Weinstein mess has put me off of ever seeing this.
Just as a counterpoint to Commander Icehole, I thought this movie was truly awful. The main weakness was the horrible lead actor, but even the somewhat gamely attempts by Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet couldn’t save it, particularly since they have to fade into the background and leave the movie to him. Even Bruno Ganz leaning on desks and playing a wise professor couldn’t help the poor dude. He was just terrible. The highlight was him doing blackvoice while he’s reading Jim’s dialogue in Huckleberry Finn. What a reader!
By the time this thing was over, I was pretty much laughing at how awkward it was. Me and a buddy saw it at a very crowded showing at an LA arthouse theater. During one particularly bad edit, we got a fit of the giggles. That doesn’t happen in movies that aren’t terrible.
BTW, this is the director who’s doing Michael Chabon’s Kavalier and Clay movie. You Chabon fans need to see The Reader so you know what you’re in for.
-TomBTW, this is the director who’s doing Michael Chabon’s Kavalier and Clay movie. You Chabon fans need to see The Reader so you know what you’re in for.
Noooooo! Really? They are going with Daldry to make The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay? This project just went from potentially very interesting to safe and boring.
Is he really still attached?
If it ever gets done, it seems that, yes, he is attached. And you made me go to an Ain’t It Cool news link to find that out, so I hope you’re happy.
-TomWell at least the Coens are tackling Yiddish Policemen’s Union.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185835/
And I agree that the Reader is pretty fucking lame. Can someone please tell me what that movie is supposed to be about? Ralph Finnes is pretty much wasted in this. There’s just nothing intriguing about any of the relationships.
And as I said in the Disappointing movies thread, WORST FATHER/DAUGHTER SURPRISE TRIP EVER.
Ouch.
Several friends who have seen this have said the only reason to bother going is if you want to see Kate Winslet naked a lot. True/False?
I did hear there are breasts aplenty.
huh…
I think it was supposed to be awkward. And I don’t think the point was that he was a great reader…just that he read to her. And have you read “Huckleberry Finn” lately? It’s written in dialect, you can’t even read it in your head without hearing Jim’s voice like that.
I guess I saw this movie without any prexpectation so it wasn’t disapointing to me. So we see things differently. No reason to give me a demotion.
If true, this just went from “no interest whatsoever” to MUST SEE IMMEDIATELY.
a lot. Though sometimes the idea of something is better than the something.
That’s right, isn’t it? She’s completely enamoured with his reading, but it’s because of, well, the twist rather than any innate ability he may have. So you have a very good point.
I guess I saw this movie without any prexpectation so it wasn’t disapointing to me. So we see things differently. No reason to give me a demotion.
Oh, I don’t mean to demote you (is a commander actually a demotion from major?), or discredit your opinion. That’s one of the cool things about talking about movies and whatnot: interacting with people with different opinions.
And to your credit, I’m probably the outlier. The Reader is getting super mad props from critics and the Golden Globes and the Academy.
-Tom
I actually had to look that up. It seems that commander and major are just about the same depending on the branch, though they rarely are in the same branch. I should have put one of those smiley winky things.
I’m curious what “really bad edit” you were talking about though. I can’t really remember one but it was a late showing.
Wow, you suck as a major if you had to look up the difference between your own rank and commander. Remind me not to sign up for your unit!
It was fairly late in the movie, so my buddy and I were getting punchy. Bruno Ganz is saying something wise to Penis Boy McLawStudent. Then two rowdy students burst into the classroom for no apparent reason, laughing and cutting up until Bruno Ganz glares at them. There’s a quick awkward shot of the two extras looking chastised.
My friend and I just started giggling like idiots for no good reason. I don’t recall if the interruption served some bad dramatic purpose or if the extras were just so conspicuous, but I believe we were the only ones in the theater who found it funny.
-TomSpoilers ahead
Just saw this yesterday. I thought it was really good, it was one of those movies that you leave the theater just plain unable to form an opinion on anything. I liked how the movie (I know it was a book) didn’t explain how much she actually had to do with the church burning down. It was obvious she didn’t write that false report, but it wasn’t obvious exactly how much she did, and why. She never speaks of it outside of the court-room, you don’t know what to think really. For one, she was the only one being honest about the situation, and she lied about her inability to read/write. I think that the movie could have dwelled a bit more on this idea of her guilt, but I don’t think that was the focus of this story.
I love movies that make you think, and the reader definitely made me think. When she asked the judge/inquisitor “What would you have done?” It really got me thinking about how horrible a situation Germany must have been in after ww2. They knew what they did was horrible, “There were over 1000 camps in Europe, everybody knew” but why did the keep quiet? I don’t know what I would have done, I certainly know what I would have do now, but who is to say exactly. Growing up in Nazi germany, being fed all of the lies, getting a high paying job in the army. For all we know she and her entire family could have been executed for treason. The movie put the thought into our heads that the whole trial was to find a scapegoat, someone to hate. Someone to blame things on even though many others had done much worse. The trial was very much condemning the very monsters that the country had created in WWII.
Overall I felt the movie was put together well. It is really hard for movies to pull off the double story well. (Movie changing focus drastically) This one did the job right. It went from heartwarming/slightly creepy to just pure shock, back to heartwarming/slightly creepy. Him receiving that first letter was very moving, and him finally showing up to see her was just… powerful. I really enjoyed the scene between Fiennes and Winslet at the end of the movie. When he stood up you could tell the meeting was over too soon in her eyes, you could tell that she was trying to be warm and he was still remaining cold. There was no embrace outside of the hand holding (which she initiated). When they parted he stood up, and she looked as if she was waiting for his embrace, and I was sure it was going to happen… but he walked away. She knew that he could never forgive her.
The best acting is in between the lines in the script, and I felt that Winslet really out did herself here. To make you feel sorry for an ex-SS officer who allowed 300 jews to burn alive… that is acting.
The movie was just so weird, Winslett had this mixture of coldness and distance in her character for the whole movie. You could tell something deep was weighing on her all throughout the film. She was very stark, and yet at the same time you could see bits of humanity there.
I can see some validity in the criticisms of this film, as there were parts that bordered on bothersome. The young actor was awkward, which I felt served his character well, but sometimes it got close to being a little off-putting. He did much better in the college years part of the film.
The movie definitely felt like a vehicle for Winslett’s performance, (much like how There will be Blood was a vehicle for Daniel-Day Lewis).
Kate Winslet was the most adorable illiterate Nazi pedophile that I ever expect to see on film. Poster quote!
Exactly what makes the film so crazy!
I think you missed the significance of this moment entirely. Michael’s encounter with Hannah left him profoundly isolated–he has a moment where you think he might escape, but random circumstances throw him back on his own. This is one of the central themes.
David Hare is a great playwright, and the film is written like a play. This is both a strength and a weakness, depending on what you go to a film to see.