"Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art —
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors —
No — yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft swell and fall,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever — or else swoon to death."

I always did really admire Campion's period pieces. For me they could always put…

Part Of: "Summer 2013 Vol. 1"

End of Vol. 1

I think what it just boils down too is that I don't like these period piece films. These Victorian era style movies where the acting and music are overplayed.

The story is pretty interesting though as its based on real life poet of the 19th century John Keats, how he moves next door to Fanny Brawne (a wonderful Abbie Cornish) and their three year romance that turns into some sort of ugly obsession by Brawne. The film just lags in pace and jumps from scene to scene not really caring about what just happened giving the timeline a confusing miss mesh of scenes.

But just like any film down in…

As an enormous fan of Jane Campion’s “The Piano”, I really wanted to like this film. In the past Campion has demonstrated the ability to render complex characters and fascinating situations from relatively dull settings, which means that she takes the old-fashioned costume drama type and takes it palatable for a wider audience. I was hoping she’d do the same for the legendary love story of John Keats and Fanny Brawn.

The film is sadly not as accessible as some of Campion’s other works. The film-making is an almost exclusively effeminate, cutting out the roughness and sexuality of the age.There is no grit in it, which is a pity because some dirt would have given the story depth. There is…

With its lyrical mood and visual beauty, the movie begs comparison to a poem. But while poems are usually meant to be profound, “Bright Star” is nothing more than a straightforward love story. It’s all very pretty – with plenty of flower fields, butterflies, and, of course, actual poetry – but it’s also boring, the kind of period-piece my Mom always falls asleep to on the couch, and then proceeds to claim she likes (I love you, Mom). And so I really can’t recommend this to anyone who isn’t in the middle-aged married woman demographic.

It’s not that’s it’s a bad film, but the director continuously undercuts what little it achieves. There are many splendid shots of the protagonists roaming…

Part Of: "Summer 2013 Vol. 1"

End of Vol. 1

I think what it just boils down too is that I don't like these period piece films. These Victorian era style movies where the acting and music are overplayed.

The story is pretty interesting though as its based on real life poet of the 19th century John Keats, how he moves next door to Fanny Brawne (a wonderful Abbie Cornish) and their three year romance that turns into some sort of ugly obsession by Brawne. The film just lags in pace and jumps from scene to scene not really caring about what just happened giving the timeline a confusing miss mesh of scenes.

But just like any film down in…

As an enormous fan of Jane Campion’s “The Piano”, I really wanted to like this film. In the past Campion has demonstrated the ability to render complex characters and fascinating situations from relatively dull settings, which means that she takes the old-fashioned costume drama type and takes it palatable for a wider audience. I was hoping she’d do the same for the legendary love story of John Keats and Fanny Brawn.

The film is sadly not as accessible as some of Campion’s other works. The film-making is an almost exclusively effeminate, cutting out the roughness and sexuality of the age.There is no grit in it, which is a pity because some dirt would have given the story depth. There is…