I am definitely not the target demographic for this film. Usually these period romance pieces are not my cup of tea, but I was a big fan of Joe Wright's Atonement and last year's Hanna (which managed to squeeze into my top ten) so I wanted to check it out. For those who aren't versed in the world of classic literature, Anna Karenina is an adaptation of a famous Russian novel from 1877 about a woman committing adultery. That's pretty much it in a nutshell. She falls for this strapping young lad, cheats on her husband, and a bunch of posh english phrases like "exquisite" and "charming" are thrown around for a couple hours.
Of course I'm over simplifying it, but it was just a slog to sit through. On a technical level the film was brilliant, and the life that director Joe Wright, the set designers, the costume people, etc brought into it was pretty breathtaking. But that was the problem: I was more interested to see the next cool camera move or the next big luscious setpiece than I was about ANY of the characters. Maybe I'm just not cultured enough to appreciate the story, but it was hard to 'buy' even the affair between Kiera Knightley and Aaron Johnson's character. I can't help it, but every time I see Aaron Johnson I think of his "loser-ish" role in Kick Ass, so it did not fit in my imagination that he was some steamy icon of masculinity that Kiera Knightley would be willing to sacrifice her reputation over. I just didn't care, I wasn't invested, and to top it all off the theater I saw it in was filled with old people who kept clearing their throats throughout the movie. AUAGGHUUGH. AUGUH. AUGH. AGH. A. - 10 mins later - AUGHUH. Then repeat for the whole film. Wasn't my thing, but if you like this sort of stuff, go for it.
Rating: C+
John Hawkes has been popping up a lot lately, most noticeably in Winter's Bone and Martha Marcy May Marlene as typically creepy characters. But here he plays possibly the most sympathetic character you're likely to see this year; he plays real life poet Mark O'Brien, a Christian paralyzed from the neck down who spent his adult life in an iron lung. This is the story of how he dealt with his sexuality by means of a sex therapist (played by Helen Hunt) and spiritual advice from a pretty liberal priest (William H. Macy).
Now I'm not sure how much of this translates into "real life," but parts of this must be fictional. Some of the things that happen in this movie are just...I just think it's pushing the boundaries of possibility. But that really doesn't hurt the film at all, in fact despite that tightrope of decency it's walking, it stays on track for most of the film (lets face it, sex with a handicapped person is a touchy subject). The three main actors are all at their respective top games and it's funny and heartfelt throughout. It's easy to see why this won the Audience Award at Sundance; it's that feel-good-but-still-shed-a-tear type of movie.
Rating: B+
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