War and Peace is an undeniably great novel, and this adaptation lives up to its source material. Casting is sheer perfection, from the pivotal roles like Lily James's Natasha and James Norton's Prince Andrei, to the heartwrenching performances of Jim Broadbent and Jessye Buckley as an abusive parent and the daughter he loves and torments. Putting aside any distaste for the milieu of entitlement (literally, when applied to the aristocracy) that pervades the novel, Tolstoy's keenly drawn characters are still psychologically rich, full of glaring flaws, and beautifully rendered herein. I have actually found myself rewatching this work from start to finish, and it still feels fresh.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Two-Bit Waltz
(2014)
Godawful
30 October 2023
We can tell how this movie got made by watching it: Brainless, self-centered twit is too dim to realize that she knows nothing and should definitely continue her education, so she writes a film script and, lo and behold, her writer dad tells her she's really got something. Unfortunately, he's dead wrong.
If I hadn't seen this during a pre-screening where the director was present, I would have walked out instead of sitting through this with saintly patience, and I wouldn't have been alone. No one present valued the experience, and we were a forgiving bunch as we suffered through an interview and Q & A that made it very clear that Clara Mamet is as vacuous as her effort here. When asked why she included a brief scene where her character had an absurd number of lit cigarettes in her mouth at once, she responded that she really likes smoking. Pure unapologetic narcissism, through and through, as if we couldn't already tell from her work.
The reputable critic who reviewed this film and likened Ms. Mamet to Buster Keaton should probably consult a surgeon to have his tongue removed from her father's rectum. It should never have been made.
If I hadn't seen this during a pre-screening where the director was present, I would have walked out instead of sitting through this with saintly patience, and I wouldn't have been alone. No one present valued the experience, and we were a forgiving bunch as we suffered through an interview and Q & A that made it very clear that Clara Mamet is as vacuous as her effort here. When asked why she included a brief scene where her character had an absurd number of lit cigarettes in her mouth at once, she responded that she really likes smoking. Pure unapologetic narcissism, through and through, as if we couldn't already tell from her work.
The reputable critic who reviewed this film and likened Ms. Mamet to Buster Keaton should probably consult a surgeon to have his tongue removed from her father's rectum. It should never have been made.
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