Shadowlands
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Movie Reviews of Shadowlands
Movie Review: Cosmic performance by Hopkins
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a wonderful and deeply affecting film, featuring superb direction by Attenborough, a terrific supporting cast, a bafflingly fine job by Debra Winger, and a performance by Anthony Hopkins that no other actor alive could possibly approach. I yield to no one in my admiration for Hopkins, the finest actor of his generation, and when I muse about his greatest efforts this performance sneaks back into my thoughts constantly. It betrays a level of understanding and sensitivity that is a source of deep satisfaction that will never fade, and when Hopkins' life's work is regarded in its totality, I believe this performance may stand first.
C.S. Lewis is a most sympathetic subject for a story, and this is unquestionably a very fine story. The earlier BBC production of Shadowlands was a terrific film, and it is significant that this Attenborough film makes one forget all about the BBC offering (certain "technical" complaints by other reviewers to the contrary notwithstanding)..
Some may quibble about minor aspects of this film, or suggest that the "restraint" of the BBC production is somehow embarrasing to this film. I think that is nonsense. This is a story that resides at the center of sorrow, and gains nothing from understatement. I have never witnessed a film that has touched its viewers so deeply. If it embarasses some cinema "experts", who carry all of their responsiveness in their heads, then I believe that is their fault, and not the fault of this film.
When Dickens died, the Times obituary said about his work that "the crtitics blushed, but the people wept and cheered." For this film, one of my ten favorites, I wept and cheered.
Movie Review: We are living in the shadowlands.
Summary: 5 Stars
SHADOWLANDS is a film that is based on the love story between C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham. The movie is beautifully photographed, is acted superbly, and has some wonderful dialogue. The oral wit of Lewis is captured in almost every scene and Anothony Hopkins gives one of the most realistic and moving performances of his career. Richard Attenborough's direction is nearly flawless and SHADOWLANDS sinks any notion that Attenborough was a one-film wonder director (GHANDI).I am a huge fan of C.S. Lewis and enjoyed the film immensely. Non-Christian friends of mine have been moved to tears while watching the film because not only does it capture the essence of true love, but because it is a true story. C.S. Lewis was set to be a lifelong bachelor until he met Joy Gresham. They were in many ways opposites (e.g. nationality, heritage, lifestyle, etc.) and it would seem inconceivable that the two should fall in love. But they did. It was as though God used Lewis and Joy to illustrate His love for us.
There were only two parts of the movie that I disliked. I found Debra Winger's performance to be irritating and annoying. There were scenes where she shined and captured the real Joy. However, for most of the film, Winger's Joy seemed fake and unnatural.
The other thing I didn't like about the movie is that they cut out one of the Gresham boys. Joy had two boys, not one and the movie acts as though one of the two brothers didn't even exist. It's simpler to tell a story that way, but not necessarily best.
Overall, a wonderful film about two very real people who had an amazing love story. It's a film sure to raise emotion, perhaps bring a tear to one's eye and it makes a great date movie.
Movie Review: Brilliant exploration of love, loss and renewal
Summary: 5 Stars
I've watched this film many times and for many reasons, chiefly among them, the exquisite performances by both leads. Safe and secure in his world of intellectual pursuits and spiritual exploration, C.S. Lewis had no interest in worldly love and romance nor did he think that when he agreed to marry divorced Jewish-American poet, Joy Gresham so that she could obtain British residency, that it would go beyond a platonic friendship. However, slowly Lewis realizes that his comfortable existence is not only one of cerebral isolation but one of emotional loneliness and finds in Gresham both a feisty, intelligent friend and a profoundly brave and uncompromising woman that teaches him that a person's life cannot be measured solely by intellectual accomplishments or other noble pursuits. Watching Hopkins as Lewis, all stiff-upper-lip English rectitude, flourish into a man who, for the first time, realizes the transfixing power of love, is a lesson in acting. Winger is no less impressive as Joy Gresham, a proud and strong woman, unwilling to be undone in the face of adversity. Joy's death scene is one of the most heartbreaking ever committed to celluloid, with an inconsolable Lewis praying for his dear wife's soul. I can't tell you how that scene affects me. I'm not one to cry in films but this so beautifully and honestly done, without a trace of melodrama or maudlin excess, that you feel that you are privy to a very personal moment in these two people's lives and I just bawl my eyes out. Extraordinary acting, directing and cinematography with superb supporting performances by everyone, makes Shadowlands a truly intelligent, cogent, yet equally human cinematic experience.Movie Review: An Extremely Touching Film
Summary: 5 Stars
C. S. Lewis is making a bit of a comeback with the "Chronicles Of Narnia" movie of late, but here's a film portrait of him made in 1993 starring the great British actor Anthony Hopkins.
To Christians, Lewis has always been a familiar name: one of the greatest and most well-known Christian apologists theologians ("Merre Christianity," "The Screwtape Letters,"etc.) and fiction (the Narnia series) writers of all time. But this film - no surprise - doesn't really deal with that: it's mainly a love story, the love he had toward his American wife, played by Debra Winger.
Being a Brit, the film takes place in England and features some wonderful landscapes of that great country. Hopkins exudes warmth in the role of Lewis and Winger is okay, New York City accent and all, as the American. I would have chosen someone else for the role, but Winger gets by.
Not to be forgotten is the fine job Edward Hardwicke did as "Warnie," Lewis' brother. Joseph Mazzello, one of the top child actors of the early '90s, is the Lewis' young boy. When father and son cry together at the end, it is one of the most touching scenes I've ever viewed on film.
It's a touching story, period, and if it doesn't get your eyes moistened at least once, check your pulse. The dialog in here is excellent, too. I particularly enjoyed the by-play of dry wit between the professors and Winger's various comments to her husband.
Nice films like this are unusual and should be treasured, as Lewis and his works are by so many people, Christian or non-Christian.
Movie Review: TIMELESS, INTENSE ROMANCE WITH LOADS OF OLD-FASHIONED VIRTUE
Summary: 5 Stars
You should certainly see Joss Ackland's version of this film, which was a BBC production and hence true to the original play etc. Come to think of it, you may also want to read the original play itself by Hanff (which is on my wishlist but I have not yet read.) Nonetheless, the thrilling chemistry between Debra Winger and Anthony Hopkins is very, very hard to resist and I wholeheartedly recommend this supposedly "Hollywood" version. It's ranks for me in the same genre as "The Remains of the Day" and "84 Charing Cross."
To begin with, how immaculate the casting is: Debra Winger plays an uninhibited and witty American poetess, while Anthony Hopkins plays a reclusive British middle-aged scholar at Oxford.
They meet over tea. She is in a withering marriage, but in her bull-in-a-china-shop American fashion, she arrives like a fresh wind to rock his musty ivory-tower existence.
As the film progresses, her crudeness (only exacerbated by Winger's awkward NY accent) is soon peeled away to reveal a heart of gold and a life-affirming sense of humor. For instance, while escorting her around Oxford, Hopkins haughtily says, "I do not really go in for seeing the sights." In response, she says, "So what do you do, walk around with your eyes shut?"
Such sprightly but tender moments evoke the screenplay's stirring underlying message -- pain is an inevitable ingredient of love. If you are looking for a somewhat weepy but always warm and wonderful romantic film, this is one of the best you'll find.