"The Beguiled" is an American 90-minute movie from this year that was written and directed by Sofia Coppola and it is another strong addition to her career and is further helping her get out of her father's big footsteps. But the writing part is only partially true because the movie is based on a novel by Thomas Cullinan. So was the movie back in the early 1970s with Clint Eastwood playing the male protagonist. I have neither read the book nor seen the old version, so my approach here is fresh as a spring chicken. I would say I enjoyed the watch here overall. The cast gives good performances and even Kidman and Dunst that I am usually not a fan of were pretty decent I would say. Farrell was good as expected and his role here probably increases his heart throb status. My favorite from the cast, Elle Fanning, proves again she is among the best from her age group. And she is gorgeous too, a gorgeous beast her role is this time. I must admit I am not familiar with the other (all very young) actresses. We will see how their careers go in the next decades.
The first half of the film (probably slightly more even) is pretty harmless, romance may be the biggest genre and comedy may be more frequent than drama almost as the jealousy is there, but feels equally harmless and entertaining to watch. Then, after the amputation, it gets a lot more serious, very dramatic and pretty thrilling at times. Edge-of-seat material too and you wonder what happens next. A bit of a shame the trailer includes major spoilers. Nonetheless, as a whole, it was a good watch. I am not the biggest fan of period pieces really, but this one I liked. The air in the theater was basically full with estrogen from the film's characters. You could maybe say that Coppola makes films that are more for females than males (also her previous collaboration with Dunst) and you probably would not be wrong at all. But men can enjoy it too, if they can stomach scenes like the amputation being a direct consequence of the cheating. It's not a feminist or misogynist film by any means though. It's all good. I have a feeling that if anybody from the cast will score awards attention, then it will be Kidman, but maybe I am wrong. I also have a feeling that the movie already peaked in terms of awards recognition and will not repeat its success from Cannes with the big American awards bodies. We shall see. This of course is not anywhere near the level of Coppola's "Lost in Translation", one of my favorite films of all time, maybe number one, but "The Beguiled" is an interesting little film that is not too long for its own good and succeeds in its own right. I recommend checking it out.
The first half of the film (probably slightly more even) is pretty harmless, romance may be the biggest genre and comedy may be more frequent than drama almost as the jealousy is there, but feels equally harmless and entertaining to watch. Then, after the amputation, it gets a lot more serious, very dramatic and pretty thrilling at times. Edge-of-seat material too and you wonder what happens next. A bit of a shame the trailer includes major spoilers. Nonetheless, as a whole, it was a good watch. I am not the biggest fan of period pieces really, but this one I liked. The air in the theater was basically full with estrogen from the film's characters. You could maybe say that Coppola makes films that are more for females than males (also her previous collaboration with Dunst) and you probably would not be wrong at all. But men can enjoy it too, if they can stomach scenes like the amputation being a direct consequence of the cheating. It's not a feminist or misogynist film by any means though. It's all good. I have a feeling that if anybody from the cast will score awards attention, then it will be Kidman, but maybe I am wrong. I also have a feeling that the movie already peaked in terms of awards recognition and will not repeat its success from Cannes with the big American awards bodies. We shall see. This of course is not anywhere near the level of Coppola's "Lost in Translation", one of my favorite films of all time, maybe number one, but "The Beguiled" is an interesting little film that is not too long for its own good and succeeds in its own right. I recommend checking it out.