I've seen the movie a while ago, and I actually quite liked it, although in the grand scheme of things, I wouldn't call it a masterpiece. I thought both Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts were fantastic. They pretty much carried the mvoie.

Zatoichi, if you're planning on watching the movie just for Ben, you might be in for some disappointment. He doesn't have a large amount of screen time, and while it was sweet, I didn't think the singing scene was anything spectacular. I was actually more impressed with his very first scene, where he gets quite emotional. I couldn't say for sure, but I'd say his overall screen time in the movie amounts to not much more than five minutes. He is there for the infamous dinner scene, but he's only featured occasionally, and he doesn't have many lines in it.

That was powerful and utterly heartbreaking.  Painful to watch at times but well worth seeing.

What a cast.  With so many characters there's limited time for development.  But as it is said there is no such thing as small parts only small actors.  This was a cast of giants.  

Of course a fine example of that was our Ben.  With only a couple of scenesand bits of dialogue he created a fully fleshed out person.  We knew LIttle Charles and understood him.  We felt for him.

But Ben wasn't the only one.  In my opinion pretty much everyone nailed their parts. 

Meryl Streep has always been and will always been a master.  She is amazing to watch.  

Was very impressed with Julianne Nicholson as Ivy.  Spent a lot of time trying to remember where I've seen her before.  Turns out she's in one of my favorite Stephen King adaptions, Storm of the Century!

On the shallow end for a monment I totally swooned during the piano scene.  Ben's voice, the soft lighting, the look in his eyes as he sings to Ivy.   Just   Just   *thud*

I can see where this wasn't a huge hit.  It's not an easy movie.  No redemption, no answers, no happy ending.  Just a hard slice of life.  But I thought it was an excellet piece of film.

Last edited by tonnaree (March 22, 2014 11:32 pm)

Never having seen or read the play I couldn't tell you what's different.  In what way did they need to "distance" themselves?  Honestly curous in your further opinion.

tonnaree wrote:

Never having seen or read the play I couldn't tell you what's different.  In what way did they need to "distance" themselves?  Honestly curous in your further opinion.

Oh dear, I am not sure my English skills are good enough to explain it . While both theatre and film dialogue are polifunctional, theatre is essentialy verbal art while film is a visual art in which dialogue tends to have a supporting role. Therefore, some elements that need to be told in the thetre text are usually just shown in the film. The tricky thing with films based on theatre is that seemingly you have a ready dialogue you just need to put in the movie. The fact is, however, that as such it often feels too "heavy" in a movie (not only AOC problem, of course). I don't want to get boring with a detailed analysis, so let's just give two examples: some critics complained that Meryl was "over the top" in the movie. Well, in a way she was, but not because of something fault in her acting: it is because theatre characters have to be more expressive than "normal" people to get their message to the audience. She was given theatrical dialogue therefore she came out as an iper-theatrical character.
Or another example from the opening scene: many of the things Beverly tells Johanna are necessary in the theatre in order to let the audience know who, what, where, when and why. In the film some of these information could have been easily shifted to visual means.

I didn't read the text before having seen the film, but because then I got curious and wanted to compare the script with the original piece.
 

I actually thought it woukd be a good example to use on a film studies course, comparing the play to the film.
But I think for the film itself, I very much doubt many people have seen the play.

That's fair enough, I just wondered how many people that would be!

Last edited by besleybean (May 3, 2014 8:43 pm)

Just found this short deleted scene showing Little Charles.

http://amygloriouspond.tumblr.com/post/82200846385/deareje-benedict-cumberbatch-as-little-charles
 

My pleasure!
And yes, you're right, I guess I would get a bit... impatient with him from time to time... but then again, I think I just adore him.

This deleted scene is so touching. I wish they'd left it in, he never got enough screen time IMO.

Do you think the sign about learning to read has any significance? That perhaps he can't, or something?

My first idea about the sign was that it's about time to read the family and their situation. And then make some decisions how to go on.