Bright Star [HD]

Everything...
My wife, bless her soul, did something wonderful for me this past week. Despite her personal regard for this film (she fell asleep in the theater), her knowledge of my personal respect and admiration for John Keats (my favorite poet to ever walk the earth) and my feelings towards this film (one of the top five best of this past year, easy) moved her to buy this movie for me last Tuesday. She even found herself searching store after store since, for some reason, a lot of places weren't carrying it.

Alas, I've already watched this three times this past week.

Jane Campion is a marvelous director who has stunned me many times, and if you have ever wondered what a Jane Austen adaptation would look like under her sensual guidance, you have your answer in `Bright Star'. I will say this; this movie is by far one of the most sensually stimulating films I've ever seen. That isn't to say that it is an explicit film (nothing close to `The Piano') but Campion has a...

Slow-paced and subtle
I wanted to adore Bright Star, especially after reading some wonderful sounding reviews. I think my expectations where a bit high going into this and I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed and indifferent. Bright Star is a beautiful film filled with wonderful, rich colors, lovely costumes and quiet performances.

Based on actual characters, it is hard to say what was real and what was not. A few points in the film seemed embellished, mostly to do with the actual extent of the relationship between Ben Whishaw's character and Abbie Cornish's character. This being the early 1800's, I found it a tad difficult to believe their relationship was allowed certain liberties, especially with Cornish's mother constantly around and pretty informed of all that went on. Again, who is to say what really happened but it almost seemed unrealistic for that particular time period.

The performaces themselves where subtle, though effective. Ben Whishaw as John Keats was the more...

John Keats at Last!
I LOVED THIS MOVIE!!!! Yes it's quiet, yes it is methodically paced but it is so real, so haunting, so unrequited. It is a love story, that is all. A love story of passion and poetry. It doesn't try to be anything else. I have it in my dvd player and have watched it a dozen times already. I do not understand the 1 star reviews for this movie. Either they believed they were going into a romantic comedy or they are not fans of historical pieces. John Keats died at 26, alone in Rome. That should tell us from the beginning that this will not be a happy movie. But what is magnificent is that in many, many respects, it IS a happy movie. The love that is created, built slowly and surely is a real thing. Campion allows Fanny to be infinitely more sympathetic than history would suggest and Abbie Cornish feels a bit like all of us, trying to keep up with John Keats. Fanny Brawne was no poet, no scholar, indeed would have been forgotten entirely if Keats had not immortalized her...

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