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Directed By
Stephen Daldry
Written By:
David Hare, Bernhard Schlink
Cast:
Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Hannah Herzsprung, Linda Bassett, Susanne Lothar, Claudia Michelsen, Matthias Habich, Ludwig Blochberger, Rich Odell, Volker Bruch, Kirsten Block, Marcus Bode, Alexandru Herca, Chris Wilpert, Jeanette Hain, David Kross, Jeanette Hain, Jürgen Tarrach, Moritz Grove, Jacqueline Macaulay, Benjamin Trinks, Rainer Sellien, Joachim Tomaschewsky, Alexander Keller, Vanessa Berthold, Marie-Anne Fliegel, Jacqueline Brock, Claudia Kühnert, Bettina Scheuritzel, Alissa Wilms, Ines Klewer, Sam Luca Scollin, Karoline Herfurth, Vijessna Ferkic, Max Mauff, Hendrik Maaß, Rüdiger Kühmstedt
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The Reader (2008)
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Movie Review by Denise
January 29th, 2009
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There's a Great Movie Here (but this ain't it)
I love Kate Winslet. I find her incredible, and I have made no effort to cover that up. So it pains me to say this: The Reader was good, but it could have been amazing.
The actors are not at fault. In short, it needed to be in German, it needed to be black and white, it needed to be shorter, and it needed a less melodramatic score.
I can suspend my disbelief in general for films in English that take place in non-English-speaking countries; for this film, no. It relied so heavily on language, on writing, on well, as you might guess, reading, that the obvious use of the wrong language was too much for me to handle. So much romance was lost when Michael opens the books and we see the words, in English, and when Hanna specifically asks what literature (in German) Michael is reading.
I'm glad I went in with no idea what the film was about. I'd like to read the book. I think the casting (except for the fact that the main actors were not German-speaking) was excellent-- Ralph Fiennes and David Kross were lovely and Kate's performance was incredible.
The courtroom scene and the gutwrenching lack of stones on Michael's part were enough to bring me to tears. Its strengths might be in the novel-- the complexity of human behavior and emotions. It's poignant, and worth seeing, for sure. But I suspect experiencing the book might be superior, despite great performaces especially by Kate Winslet (not to mention her lovely, lovely body).
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 | Zara
Jan 29, 2009 11:08 PM
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I tend to not watch the "buzz" movies until they're long past award season and on DVD. Once people stop talking about them, you know? I ended up loving THERE WILL BE BLOOD (didn't win the award) and loathing BABEL (nominated in its year but didn't win either).
THE READER doesn't look interesting to me and it was clearly the movie that the Academy voters threw in there to purposefully and loudly send the message that they weren't going to nominate DARK KNIGHT or Christopher Nolan. I almost kinda feel sad for this movie and I haven't even watched it. |
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