This movie made me want to know more about the life of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire,
who was the topic of this fantastic period movie. Keira Knightley is magnificent in her role as the Duchess,
a character who struggles to strike a delicate balance between dutiful wife while finding a modicum of
happiness in a world where women have no real power... even if married to one of the most powerful
men in England. (The Duke is played by the indomitable acting powerhouse Ralph Fiennes.) The story is fantastic,
and the entire movie is well written and beautifully shot. Knightley gives a moving performance - possibly
one of her best. Fiennes, as usual, is amazing. (Just compare his dream-peddling character from
Strange Days to the Duke, a hated, and yet somehow amazingly sympathetic character, and you can
see the amazing range of Fiennes.) Fiennes, as usual, doesn't hold anything back in this film, and creates a
solid pillar of conflict by his mere presence in a scene.
The Duchess is a solid movie, not a mere flowery chick flick. But... it is a
drama, and a biographical drama at that, so it won't be everyone's cup of tea. (Earl Grey or otherwise...)
Personally, I liked it. I think you probably will too.
Movie to Skip: The Beach
Let me save you some trouble and sum this one up for you: a spoiled twenty-something
kid runs off to Thailand - funded by his parents - and finds a secluded colony of beach bums.
The bums take things a little too seriously, and ultimately the whole beach bum lifestyle isn't
as fun or as idyllic as the spoiled kid thought it would be. End of story. Want to watch that film?
Of course you don't, because it's boring and ultimately you don't learn anything that you
didn't already know before you went in. I guess we get to see Dicaprio's character figure it out,
but similar to my feelings about Hathaway's character in Havoc, I just find it hard to care
about this 'growing' moment. There is something about
the spoiled little rich kid genre of film, where the (anti-)hero does something so obviously stupid
and then takes an hour and a half of my life to figure that out, that just annoys me a little. (I don't
think that bodes well for my own children...)
For what it's worth, DiCaprio does an ok job with this film. I thought his character
was a moron, and I totally didn't buy into the Rambo thing in the middle, but at least his
acting was on par with most of his other work. At the end of the day, however, Inception
was a MUCH better film than this one... even if you hate it. This one is not worth
your time.
