Teaser Trailer for BLACK WIDOW Starring Scarlett Johansson

Though it still feels somewhat odd still that Phase IV of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will kick-off with what is-as far as we know-a prequel one has to imagine that in a decade or so the current generation too young to see these early phases in theaters will pay little mind to the actual order in which these films were released and simply watch them chronologically instead. And so, while the MCU might be making good on some things it probably should have done much sooner with the release of Black Widow next summer it would seem this little facet of the films existence will soon be forgotten in favor of either how good or bad the film is. In this first teaser, Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff is heading back to "where it all started" in an adventure that would seem to take place after Civil War, but before the events of Infinity War. Maybe we'll find out how she came into that blonde hair? Either way, Agent Romanoff is on the run and returns to Russia where she is reunited with "family" such as Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, a character who eventually adopts the Black Widow title, David Harbour as AKA The Red Guardian and Rachel Weisz who is said to be playing another Black Widow, but one who has been through the training and active duty cycle numerous times. Cate Shortland (Berlin Syndrome) directs with the screenplay written by Ned Benson (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby) and Jac Schaefer (The Hustle). If one is to take away anything from this first look at the film it's that the ensemble seems like a lot of fun and hopefully the more grounded, hand-to-hand combat style of the action outweighs that of what Marvel is clearly baking on for their third act which features a multitude of characters falling through the sky while fighting which looks to be...a little silly, honestly. All of that said, it's hard not to be intrigued simply by the nature of the beast, but it will be interesting to see how much the studio, Shortland and Johansson can convince people to still invest in a character they already know is gone. Black Widow also stars O-T Fagbenle, William Hurt, Ray Winstone and opens on May 1, 2020.

Recent Release Reviews

In the lead-up to the holidays and awards season there is always an onslaught of new releases as studios ready both their awards-contenders and their holiday hopeful blockbusters and 2018 has been no different if not worse in some ways. It may be due to the fact I was unable to make it to any film festivals this year or that there have been less than a handful of convenient press screenings in my market, but there has seemed to have been a wave of smaller releases showing up in theaters over the past two weeks not to mention the full-on deluge of wide releases and expansions this week that included the triple-header of blockbusters that is Aquaman, Bumblebee, and Mary Poppins Returns that have put me far off my admittedly optimistic initial schedule. Blockbusters weren't the only thing opening this past week though, as other releases included the Steve Carell-fronted Welcome to Marwen, the Jennifer Lopez comedy Second Act, as well as the expansion of the Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie period piece, Mary Queen of Scots. And that was just for this past weekend as it doesn't include the fact that tomorrow, Christmas Day, will see the release of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly's Holmes & Watson, Adam McKay's Vice, and the expansion of Barry Jenkins' follow-up to his best picture-winner (Moonlight) If Beale Street Could Talk as well as Nicole Kidman's Oscar-bid, Destroyer. And in this day and age it's impossible to ignore the impact streaming services, namely Netflix, have on the industry as awards contenders like Alfonso Cuarón's Roma and Sandra Bullock's Bird Box have both recently debuted on the subscription service and offer the enticing option of catching a certain standard of film from the comfort of your own home. This is all to say that while I try to see and write about as many films as possible it is nearly impossible with everything else going on at this time of year to devote the time needed to both seeing all of these films and writing about each on an individual basis and so, as these things go, I have truncated my reviews and/or thoughts for some of the smaller films that have been or will be released within the last couple of weeks and included them in this single post. Hit the jump for quick takes on the likes of The Favourite, Vox Lux, The Mule, Destroyer, Mary Queen of Scots, Wildlife, Shoplifters, The Front Runner, Welcome to Marwen and If Beale Street Could Talk.

THE LOBSTER Review

Note: This is a reprint of my review for The Lobster, which originally ran on September 13, 2015 after seeing it at the Toronto Film Festival. I am publishing it again today as it hits theaters this weekend.

Most will likely walk out of The Lobster either loving or hating it. It's easy to see why this will be something of a divisive film given it's weird as hell. With all its observational humor conveyed in static, dry tones and cynical quips that paint the internet culture into a real-world society it will surely have its fans. Undoubtedly, there is much to like and appreciate here, but while I laughed several times and found the overall sentiment of the film to be a rather sweet one that is conveyed in a ridiculous yet inventive way I couldn't help but feel that it was trying too hard to be as much when the coolness factor of its unique ideas should have been effortless. The strangeness of the set-up to this world is so out there that it can't help but feel weird solely for the sake of being weird. Weird is fine and all, but The Lobster is pushing it. Some will find this endearing, others will see it as straining and unfortunately by the time the film concluded I was more in the latter category than the former. Writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos, in his English-language debut, certainly has a lot to say with his high-concept comedy, but up until the last half hour or so of the film things are more about the concept than they are the ideas he's attempting to discuss. Lanthimos spends so much time trying to make sure his audience will understand this world without blatantly spilling tons of exposition that all of the dialogue in the first hour feels like a sly way of explaining the rules of this world where one checks into a resort to find a mate and if failing to do so in forty-five days, facing the reality of being turned into an animal. So, yes, the film is conceptually striking given it is all a large metaphor for the way in which society tells us our lives are better when lived with a partner, but never does it transcend this gimmick until the moving final shot.

First Trailer for THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS Starring Michael Fassbender

Michael Fassbender is certainly one busy guy as 2016 will see Fassbender not only return as Magneto in X-Men: Apocalypse, but in at least three other films, maybe (possibly) even four. With an Untitled Terrence Malick project still sitting on the shelf one never knows what could happen. The actor also has Tresspass Against Us (directed by Adam Smith and co-starring Brendan Gleeson) and his re-teaming with Macbeth director Justin Kurzel on the video game adaptation Assassin's Creed set for a December release, but the one I'm most excited about is the latest from director Derek Cianfrance that pairs Fassbender with real life love interest Alicia Vikander and is based on M.L. Stedman's New York Times bestseller. Cianfrance has previously made the gut-wrenching Blue Valentine and the family epic The Place Beyond the Pines, the latter of which was one of my favorite films of 2013. So, to have another of his films on the horizon is a real treat. Cianfrance has adapted Stedman's debut novel, The Light Between Oceans, about a lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia who raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat. Fassbender is lighthouse keeper Tom Sherbourne with Vikander (Ex Machina, The Danish Girl) playing his wife, Isabel. This first glimpse at the film via international trailer makes it clear the reasons Cianfrance felt motivated by the material and what drew it to him in the first place. The familial dynamics and the confrontations within the central relationship are prime Cianfrance territory that will undoubtedly allow him to explore the complexity of human emotion and how two entities of such strong emotions can intertwine over the plot that carries this story. The Light Between Oceans is one of my most anticipated of the year and also stars Rachel Weisz, Caren Pistorius, Benedict Hardie, Emily Barclay, Anthony Hayes, Leon Ford, Florence Clery and opens in the U.S. on September 2nd, 2016.

YOUTH Review

Note: This is a reprint of my review for Youth, which originally ran on September 12, 2015 after seeing it at the Toronto Film Festival. I am publishing it again today as it hits theaters this weekend.

I may not have any right to review director Paolo Sorrentino's (The Great Beauty) new film given I'm what I'd consider a youthful twenty-eight and this is clearly a film meant to elicit the broad scope, the big picture or the authentic perspective of an experienced life. I recognize that I can't even attempt to understand all of what this film is trying to say or all of what Sorrentino hopes to accomplish with such a work, but I feel I can at least recognize what he is going for. In fact, one character even describes the seeming intent of Youth within the film when he describes the film he's set to direct himself as a, "sentimental and intellectual last statement." While Sorrentino himself seems far from this stage of his career it seems as if that's the kind of film he intended to produce here; a sentimental ode to aging and the wisdom that experience and perspective bring while simultaneously becoming too old to recall any of this knowledge as processed through the guise of an intellectual. There is no issue with the aspiration as I would love to bear witness to a film that does some kind of justice to the striking injustice that is finally reaching a point where you might find some true hint of understanding only to develop Alzheimer's or croak the next day, but Youth is more a film that serves as a discussion of such philosophies and ideas rather than one that tells a story that conveys such ideas.

TIFF 2015: THE LOBSTER Review

Most will likely walk out of The Lobster either loving it or hating it. It's easy to see why this will be something of a divisive film given it's weird as hell. With all its observational humor conveyed in static, dry tones and cynical quips that paint the internet culture into a real-world society it will surely have its fans. Undoubtedly, there is much to like and appreciate here, but while I laughed several times and found the overall sentiment of the film to be a rather sweet one that is conveyed in a ridiculous yet inventive way I couldn't help but feel this just wasn't my thing. The strangeness of the set-up to this world is so out there that it can't help but feel weird solely for the sake of being weird. Weird is fine and all, but The Lobster is really stretching it. Writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos, in his English-language debut, certainly has a lot to say with his high-concept comedy, but until the last half hour or so of the film things are more about the concept than they are the points he's trying to make. Lanthimos spends so much time trying to make sure his audience will understand this world without blatantly spilling tons of exposition that all of the dialogue in the first hour feels like a sly way of explaining the rules of this world where you check into a resort to find a mate and if you don't successfully do so in forty-five days, you're turned into an animal. So, yes, the film is conceptually striking given it is all a large metaphor for the way in which society tells us our lives are better when lived with a partner, but never does it transcend this gimmick until the moving final shot.

TIFF 2015: YOUTH Review

I may not have any right to review director Paolo Sorrentino's (The Great Beauty) new film given I'm what I'd consider a youthful twenty-eight and this is clearly a film meant to elicit the broad scope, the big picture or the authentic perspective of an experienced life. I recognize that I can't even attempt to understand all of what this film is trying to say or all of what Sorrentino hopes to accomplish with such a work, but I feel I can at least recognize what he is going for. In fact, one character even describes the seeming intent of Youth within the film when he describes the film he's set to direct himself as a, "sentimental and intellectual last statement." While Sorrentino himself seems far from this stage of his career it seems as if that's the kind of film he intended to produce here; a sentimental ode to aging and the wisdom that experience and perspective bring while simultaneously becoming too old to recall any of this knowledge as processed through the guise of an intellectual. There is no issue with the aspiration as I would love to bear witness to a film that does some kind of justice to the striking injustice that is finally reaching a point where you might find some true hint of understanding only to develop Alzheimer's or croak the next day, but Youth is more a film that serves as a discussion of such philosophies and ideas rather than one that tells a story that conveys such ideas.

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL Review

Taking on anything that has occupied such a space in popular culture as massive as The Wizard of Oz is always a risk. When first hearing the news that Sam Raimi (the original Evil Dead and the original Spider-Man trilogy) would be directing a prequel to arguably the most popular film in cinematic history I was both concerned and enchanted by the idea. The possibilities of what it could address seemed endless and the world so large that it might be impossible to capture in a single feature. What Raimi and his gang have ended up concocting though is certainly something of a sprawling epic, but to take a cue from the titular hero it is a good film, not a great one. There is plenty to enjoy here, visuals to entice and characters to laugh and marvel at as references abound to that oh so familiar movie that has an all encompassing track into part of our childhood. Whether it be simple things such as the red smoke and fireballs the wicked witch utilizes or the poppy field that is brought back for good measure in this insightful but sometimes slow, sometimes bland film. I hate to sound as if I didn't like the film because that isn't true. I actually enjoyed the experience very much, made better by the full audience that had their predictable reactions ready and willing to fire at every expected and intended moment. I loved the imagination of Raimi and his team of artists that have rendered a version of OZ the makers of the original could have only imagined, bit for all that gloss and digital effects wizardry (for lack of a better word) there is still something missing about the movie; something that elevates it from simply being an enjoyable experience to a memorable one. I had fun re-visiting OZ and its winding yellow brick road, but odds are this adventure, no matter its title, will never be lumped into the same category as Victor Fleming's picture.

THE BOURNE LEGACY Review

The Bourne Legacy is not so much a continuation of the franchise as it is an expansion. Which, in many ways is a really interesting way to go about continuing a franchise especially when that franchise consists of secret government missions and secret agents that are the results of tinkering with the genetic make-up of those humans. Of course there was never just one of them. There was no way they stopped at the prototype, especially when despite his flaws he turned out to be so impressive. Still, while it is exciting to see this universe broaden how the actual film executes itself begs the question if it was really all that necessary. See, the most interesting parts of the this latest Bourne are indeed the few parts where our original hero is mentioned and we see the folds of the two stories beginning to overlap. It is an interesting approach, it is an interesting idea, but the critical component that needed to be interesting is what fails us here. Whereas Jason Bourne was a man on the run with no idea as to who or what he was the new central character Aaron Cross, played with intense gravitas by the credible Jeremy Renner has no such amnesia-like symptoms to cope with. Cross knows exactly who he is and what he's doing. In fact, he embraces it. I was a latecomer to the Bourne franchise in the first place. I never really understood the fascination with the first entry in the series, but I found its predecessors constantly improving on the intriguing set-up that first film had. In The Bourne Legacy we are supposed to see the ramifications of what Jason Bourne started, but instead we end up longing for the days when the task wasn't just a mission, but a personal journey.

Outcome agent Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) and
Colonel Eric Byer (Ed Norton) discuss a mission.

Legacy picks up somewhere in the middle of Ultimatum when Matt Damon's Bourne is following up with a writer for a big time news publication that is doing a series on Bourne and his origins at Treadstone. When it becomes clear that the agency has lost control of the situation including Bourne along with one of their own, Pamela Landy (Joan Allen in a brief cameo) who now sees the struggle and humanity in Bourne's mission. In the wake of this scandal the CIA and the man in charge of creating these programs, a retired USAF colonel Eric Byer (Edward Norton) decide to off all of their assets in their multiple black ops programs including the agents in operation Outcome, one of which is Mr. Cross. When the film opens it first gives a decidedly nice reference to that wonderful opening shot from Identity before delving into the fantastic first act of the film. In saying that, the first half of the film truly is engaging. It parallels between Renner's Aaron Cross in what looks to be the Alaskan wilderness for what we assume is some kind of training exercise. While there he encounters another Outcome agent (Oscar Isaac) where their initial exchange is a testament to director Tony Gilroy's ability to stage a tense conversation that may or may not imply more than we have already been informed of. The pacing is great and the cinematography is gorgeous and while this introduction to Renner is criss-crossed with our introduction to Byer it makes it all the more engrossing. We are given the insider and outsider points of view. We see Norton, as great a presence as he is, commanding a room and doing what is necessary to achieve said goal. Gilroy then demonstrates a skilled hand in the action scenes as well in giving Cross an intelligent way of alluding certain death. From that point on it is what we've come to expect from the Bourne films: a chase film with layers.

Cross finds it more troubling than he expected to rescue
his good doctor.

In Operation Outcome the agents are given blue and green pills to enhance their physical and mental abilities. In wiping out the agents of this operation Byer also has to get rid of the scientists that handle the Outcome agents. They chemically brainwash one of them to go in and kill his colleagues then himself, the only survivor being Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz, in a terrific mainstream turn who ends up being the real heart of the film). In one of the more truly affecting and horrific scenes in the film these executions happen with blunt brutality and give the viewer a jolt (especially given the recent events of the Aurora theater shooting). It is cold blooded and sickening to see a man kill with no emotion behind his eyes while his victims beg to be spared. As is necessary for the story though, after escaping his intended death Cross needs his "meds" to continue existing has he has now become accustomed to these heightened states of mental and physical capacities. In doing so he comes to the aid of the only surviving scientist that will have access to the tools necessary to viral off the pills. The film sets up Cross with the advantage of being unknown to Shearing's pursuers while the script allows for the details to slowly strip away the truth of the situation to Byer and his cronies. It is up to the point when our two protagonists enter Manilla that the film had me. I was good with it, great even, happy that the tension was consistent and if I wasn't going to be as invested in the journey of Aaron Cross as I was Jason Bourne at least the character was given a personality by its actor and given the opportunity to embrace his role rather than be unsure of it all. It was as The Bourne Legacy felt it necessary to have a bombastic climax to the film by including foot and motorcycle chase scenes that feel nothing short of forced that I gave up on it.

Dr. Shearing (Rachel Weisz) administers tests to the agents
in the governments Outcome operation.

I was enthusiastic for this new film in the tradition of above average spy movies. The Bourne films set a new standard for the action film by adding some real brains to the ordeal and while I wouldn't call Legacy a regression at all it does tend to lean more on what has come before in the series rather than moving the ideas the earlier chapters installed, forward. This is a gripping world and one with plenty of room for expansion and while writer and director Tony Gilroy (who also penned the scripts for the first three films) shows great promise early on the whole thing dissolves into standard action set pieces that have no justification behind them other than to see a few cool moves on a motorcycle. What the movie does have going for it though is clearly a present idea of where Cross's story can go and where it might collide with Bourne's. There is a nice little bit towards the beginning of the film that could hint at some type of connection and I want the series to continue if not to explore where Cross and Dr. Shearing end up but also to see how the FBI investigation of Landy and Vosen (David Strathairn) comes around with Bourne having exposed Treadstone and Blackbriar. How will Norton's character fit into it all and will there be some kind of definitive conclusion to all of these story lines that have now just multiplied. Likely there won't but I'm sure Universal will keep breathing life into the franchise as long as it makes money. If they can team Damon and Renner up in the next one as the lone survivors of these programs gone wrong we could be in for something great. The cast here raises the bar and Gilroy is plenty talented but seems to have stretched himself a little thin taking on double duty. Get Paul Greengrass back, combine the casts and create the ultimate super spy thriller. That sounds like a real way to leave a legacy.

THE BOURNE LEGACY Review

The Bourne Legacy is not so much a continuation of the franchise as it is an expansion. Which, in many ways is a really interesting way to go about continuing a franchise especially when that franchise consists of secret government missions and secret agents that are the results of tinkering with the genetic make-up of those humans. Of course there was never just one of them. There was no way they stopped at the prototype, especially when despite his flaws he turned out to be so impressive. Still, while it is exciting to see this universe broaden how the actual film executes itself begs the question if it was really all that necessary. See, the most interesting parts of the this latest Bourne are indeed the few parts where our original hero is mentioned and we see the folds of the two stories beginning to overlap. It is an interesting approach, it is an interesting idea, but the critical component that needed to be interesting is what fails us here. Whereas Jason Bourne was a man on the run with no idea as to who or what he was the new central character Aaron Cross, played with intense gravitas by the credible Jeremy Renner has no such amnesia-like symptoms to cope with. Cross knows exactly who he is and what he's doing. In fact, he embraces it. I was a latecomer to the Bourne franchise in the first place. I never really understood the fascination with the first entry in the series, but I found its predecessors constantly improving on the intriguing set-up that first film had. In The Bourne Legacy we are supposed to see the ramifications of what Jason Bourne started, but instead we end up longing for the days when the task wasn't just a mission, but a personal journey.

THE DEEP BLUE SEA Review

I was unfamiliar with the story I was walking into upon seeing "The Deep Blue Sea" and was not well acquainted with any of writer/director Terrence Davies previous work. I had of course heard others discuss his films and was anxious to see if what I had heard would turn out to be true. What is actually delivered in his latest film is by all means a very simple tale. It is nothing more than a tragic love story set in the ruins of World War II. As awful as it may sound I am always entertained, or more accurately engaged by tragic love stories. The dynamic of a failed relationship is always interesting. That is why there are so many songs about them, that is why the story never grows old. I found the adaptation of the 1952 Terence Rattigan play to be emotionally enduring and a very introspective look at how the human heart deals with past memories and lost feelings it will never likely be reunited with again. Still, for such a melodramatic premise, it also ends up being rather boring. Davies does in fact prove to be a very straight forward director who documents this story with a stylistically square eye. Everything we see feels flawless, painted almost and yet at the center of our story is an extremely fractured individual that slowly becomes more self-destructive due to the heartbreaking circumstances she is forced to confront yet are of her own creation. This is a distinctly British film, but after seeing "Pirates! Band of Misfits" earlier this week I found it even more interesting to see how big the crevice really is between the work in American cinema and how it compares. Clearly this is a much heavier film than the animated export that is opening wide this weekend, but it may not be the better film because of it.

Sir William Collyer (Simon Russell Beale) is shocked
by his wife's actions.

I realize this has little to do with an animated movie about Pirates, but it is inevitable for me as a movie-goer to not relate the two as they come from filmmakers with similar cultures. There is really no way to compare the two, but why I even mention the observation is due to the fact that the kind of people we watch here carry that same noble persona, that uniquely formal reserve for one another. The is demonstrated in the story by Freddie Page, a pilot in the Royal Air Force who is having trouble adjusting to life after the war. As played by Tom Hiddleston (Thor) Freddie is a fickle, thrill-seeking playboy who gives into Hester's longing for more than skin deep love if only to succeed in gaining lust and sin from the married woman. Hester, a romanticizing and smouldering Rachel Weisz, is looking for more than this though. She longs for true passion and true love. As the younger wife to high court judge Sir William Collyer (Simon Russell Beale) she sits pretty in his wealthy arms, she is comfortable, but needs more in her life to fill those ideals of romantic escapades, to help her realize those passions. This leads her to the affair with Freddie who after learning of an attempted suicide by Hester seems to see it as a way out and quickly exits before getting caught up in actually having to return the love Hester feels for him and provide stability in her life. The film plays out in this single day where Hester has attempted to kill herself and plays out through short flashbacks to flesh out the complete story of the affair and how she has arrived in her current state. 

Freddie (Tom Hiddleston) and Hester (Rachel Weisz) can't
help falling in love.

Davies handles these flashbacks with ease as he navigates them with the help of a strong classical score. Much of the film in fact plays out as if it could be a silent picture. Of course, this would take away some of the scenes in which we see Weisz, as a performer, exceed. The images are just so elegant though that the sweeping orchestral sounds take the imagery to a completely different level where the slow pace becomes more of a point than a flaw. No doubt it is intentional, but that we don't really dig into the meat of the story until the half hour point makes for a rather uninspired introduction. The main conflict I have with the movie though was that we, as an audience, are confused as to whether we should like or be afraid of Weisz's Hester. True, she is a damaged soul, but as she is clearly a danger to herself Davies should have taken more time to flesh her out as a human being. There is a development in the character that is missing. We never really learn how she came to marry the older man in the first place, why she might be drawn to such lustful desires, or if she has ever been happy. Does she even know what it truly feels like to fall in love? At one point Freddie speaks a line of dialogue that goes went something to the effect of marrying the first man that asked and falling in love with the first to smile at her. We see the pain and confusion there, but we want to be given a deeper look into its roots. This is a familiar story and because Davies has stripped it down to its core characters it feels more like a filmed version of the stage play in parts than it does a feature film. This was my biggest detraction for myself to emotionally connect with the film, which is a shame because there is serious complexities going on under Weisz's soft-focused eyes.

Hester is at the center of The Deep Blue Sea and is cause
for much stress in the life of two men.

"The Deep Blue Sea" is clearly not a film for everyone. It is in many ways a throw back to movies of old. There is a lost soul feeling to the film that overcasts the gloomy British setting and tragic story. I almost came to understand what life must have felt like post-WWII. There is a sense of hopelessness hanging over everything. This could be the reason a restricted romantic like Hester becomes so restless in her unaffectionate marriage, but it also serves the film in its quest to make you really feel the heartache. "The Deep Blue Sea" is a very careful film, one that seems planned to a T with its steady cam shots set to classical music and the very quick witted dialogue exchanged in rapid fire while the words contain the intelligence of thoughts that would usually have to be boiled over. It is that kind of film and if that isn't your cup of tea, then you will honestly probably hate the film. I din't love it, but I think I understood it. I certainly understood Weisz's performance and while I yearned to know more about Hester I was also thankful such a talented actress had taken the role. A lesser one would not have been able to convey nearly as much history in the unspoken moments as Weisz does here. We know what she wants, what she longs for when the camera studies her face as she looks at Freddie. Even when her character becomes somewhat of a wallower, feeling sorry for herself because of her current lifestyle we sympathize with her. That is the strongest aspect the film has going for it and while plenty of other things compliment the performance, that alone is what will resonate with you hours after the credits roll.

      

      

THE DEEP BLUE SEA Review

I was unfamiliar with the story I was walking into upon seeing "The Deep Blue Sea" and was not well acquainted with any of writer/director Terrence Davies previous work. I had of course heard others discuss his films and was anxious to see if what I had heard would turn out to be true. What is actually delivered in his latest film is by all means a very simple tale. It is nothing more than a tragic love story set in the ruins of World War II. As awful as it may sound I am always entertained, or more accurately engaged by tragic love stories. The dynamic of a failed relationship is always interesting. That is why there are so many songs about them, that is why the story never grows old. I found the adaptation of the 1952 Terence Rattigan play to be emotionally enduring and a very introspective look at how the human heart deals with past memories and lost feelings it will never likely be reunited with again. Still, for such a melodramatic premise, it also ends up being rather boring. Davies does in fact prove to be a very straight forward director who documents this story with a stylistically square eye. Everything we see feels flawless, painted almost and yet at the center of our story is an extremely fractured individual that slowly becomes more self-destructive due to the heartbreaking circumstances she is forced to confront yet are of her own creation. This is a distinctly British film, but after seeing "Pirates! Band of Misfits" earlier this week I found it even more interesting to see how big the crevice really is between the work in American cinema and how it compares. Clearly this is a much heavier film than the animated export that is opening wide this weekend, but it may not be the better film because of it.