Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Chloë Grace Moretz, Lars Eidinger, Johnny Flynn, Brady Corbet, Hanns Zischler, Angela Winkler, Nora von Waldstätten
Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is at the peak of her career. She’s a famous actress who’s been asked to act in the revival of the play she starred in twenty years before. Then she was the young assistant whose allure eventually drove the star to suicide. Now Maria is playing the role of her mentor and has to look at things from the other side. Her former role is now being played by the upcoming young star Jo-Ann (Chloe Grace Moretz) who seems very uninterested in what the older woman learned from playing the role 20 years ago. She wants to do it her own way. Meanwhile, Maria’s personal assistant is Valentine (Kristen Stewart) who is always challenging her and art and life seem to mimic each other.
This is an artsy film. I have to admit that I really hated this movie. Now I am sure that there must be some people out there who must think this is fantastic art, and like abstract paintings of splotches on a canvas, or statues made out of trash with no meaningful shape is great art to a few, the masses don’t get it at all. This was supposed to have some deep meaning and I felt like I was expected to come out of it with some fantastic epiphany, but actually I thought it was an awful waste of time. It was not only boring as hell, but served no purpose that I can see. Kristen Stewart was simply horrid, spouting lines and pretending to act, but not saying anything. I could find no value in this movie, and I’m afraid this may be the worst piece of film I’ve ever watched. Unless you are fond of being bored to tears, stay far away from this one. Seriously, it was BAD.
Anne Hathaway, Johnny Flynn, Mary Steenburgen, Ben Rosenfield, Lola Kirke, Paul Whitty, Dan Deacon
Fanny (Anne Hathaway) is estranged from her family, busy with her career and with her own life. But she returns home when her brother Henry (Ben Rosenfield) is in an accident and ends up in the hospital in a coma. Fanny stays beside him day after day hoping for a sign of recovery. Her brother was into music and his favorite artist was James Forrester (Johnny Flynn) who is at the crossroads of his career and on the brink of taking off. Fanny decides to go meet James, and brings a book of song lyrics that her brother had written and asks James to put some of the lyrics to music, and hires him to come and play the songs at the hospital. Franny and James are not alike very much, but they hit it off and find they are strangely attracted to each other.
There is one word to describe this film. Anne Hathaway. This young “Princess Diaries” star has become one hell of an actress. Her performance in this movie pulls it out of the gutter and turns it in to an enjoyable film. They were certainly lucky to cast her in this role. Secondly, the music, of course, is a major player in this movie as well. It is dark and sad, but becomes hopeful as Fanny and James learn much about life from each other. It is a pretty decent drama that has a lot going for it. This was not a blockbuster film, and won’t make anyone’s best films of 2014 list, most likely, but is very worth taking a look at. It was a pleasure to watch the performances, both acting and musical, and if you’re a fan of the quirky independent Brooklyn music scene, this is a big plus for the film. I would say take a chance on it, and you might find it an enjoyable time.
