The Reader is one of those films that is good enough that you won't turn it off before its conclusion, yet bad enough to make you feel like you just wasted two hours on mediocrity.The Reader is your run of the mill Academy Award fodder. The script is melodramatic and unrealistic. The characters don't react naturally to any situation given to them but rather do what would seem the most dramatic. The music is droll. The cinematography is pretentious. And the acting is heavy handed. Mix all these elements up with just a dash of some good ol' German Holocaust guilt and you got yourselves an award winner baby.
Kate Winslet won every film award on the planet for this performance and certainly she is the best part of the film but this is far from her best work. Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind is a great example of her range as an actress. Her character in The Reader (Hanna Schmitz) is neopolitan acting its finest. When i say neopolitan i speak of the ice cream of course, there is a range of three different emotions, that Winslet can blend together if she likes but also does a great job of seperating them enough to make us feel like we were served three seperate scoops from three different places.
I wanted to watch this film because i wanted to get a better sense of our new release wall as of late, as i've been finding it harder to recommend films to customers. Most people want their films to meet 3 critera.
1. They want something recent
2. They want something in English
3. They want something that has at least one well known actress or actor in it
So in conclusion this is the perfect film to recommend, its boring and long, and quite meaningless. It gives one the idea they watched something with substance while what you're really getting is one long excercise in vanilla filmmaking.
The Reader is like if The Lives Of Others was made with British actors putting on annoying German accents and rather than being more sensitive with the material were all trying to win Oscars.
yeah, recommended for the callow.
"And you know what the worst part is? I NEVER LEARNED TO READ!!!"
3 comments:
Totally agree, this is one I ended up watching by being in the wrong place at the wrong time and has all the ingredients to put me off. About as rewarding as stamping on a cats head but I must say, much less traumatic than revolutionary road which I quarter watched before running screaming into oncoming traffic. Tough audience.
Watch 'The Dreamers' instead, 10x better. Right Kris?
Agree completely. In addition to the nothing plot did anyone else notice how lousy the pacing was?
Never seen an A-list film with so many structural and plotting problems. I'm not sure if it was an editing screw-up or if there simply wasn't enough there to make a film out of.
Best review I've read on this film Kris. You couldn't have nailed it any better.
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