The Golden Bowl
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Movie Reviews of The Golden Bowl
Movie Review: Great movie, great price!
Summary: 5 Stars
My order made it all the way to Alaska in just a few days! Thank you so much for the quality service!Movie Review: Excellent Adaptation ~ Nick Nolte is Superb!
Summary: 4 Stars
Rather than repeat the plot that is well summarized elsewhere, I'll simply say that I found this to be an excellent adaptation of a complex work by Henry James with strong performances turned in by Nick Nolte and Uma Thurman. The scenery is typical Merchant/Ivory: beautiful costumes and vivid location shots with dramatic and precise period settings. As another reviewer has stated on another site, "This is not 'entertainment' for the simple-minded, but a feast for those whose consciousness demands serious visual/literary engagement. Truly, the term 'masterpiece' applies here." The score by Richard Robbins is also superb and provides the essential audio backdrop that weaves the scenes of the movie together.
If anything detracts from the effort it is the exceedingly bland performance by Kate Beckinsdale as Adam Verver's daughter, Maggie. She lacked the sweetness and vulnerability as well as dedication that characterizes Maggie. In contrast Beckinsdale just made her look somewhat silly and clueless. I couldn't help thinking that someone such as a younger Linda Hamilton would have been better suited to the role and would have turned in a far more intelligent performance.
In addition, while Jeremy Northam does a fair impression of an impoverished rake of an Italian Prince, there is something lacking in his performance. He doesn't quite make the transition from passionate lover to dedicated husband/father and back again. If not for these two minor detractions, I would have given the film 5 stars. Fortunately, the strong performances of the other actors more than make up for any of the problems noted above.
For me, Nolte's performance is the best! His portrayal of an American billionaire who dotes on his daughter is understated and believable. All the while there is a sense in his performance of the qualities that made Adam Verver so wealthy: determination, an observant and keen eye, intelligence, strength and an underlying danger. The performances of Thurman, Fox and Huston are also excellent and along with Nolte's Verver form the core of the film.
I highly recommend this film to all.
Movie Review: Very good movie in Concept and Acting, but Beware, you may get dissapointed at end!
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie is difinately not an entertaining hollywoodic movie. so it my embarrace most of people. It begins very good and plunge you in some kind of life time story of a family. Scenario is very accurate and actings are great. Kate beckinsale had one of her earliest but best performances although she was very ugly in this movie. In converse, Uma Thurman was at her peak. she was amazing and sexy. The story is nothing new. A Couple who coudn't made it cause of money apparently. Charlotte and Amerigo. so they seperated each went on their own way. Amerigo intended to marry the daughter of a billionaire. accidently, daughter of the billilonaire is a friend of Charlotte's. Charlotte still loves Amerigo. so she penetrates into the billionaires family and accepts Mr. Verver's (Billionaire) marriage proposal. now Charlotte and Amerigo are Step-mother and Son in-law sow they can meet whitout making any suspition. seems like an old but great story. but it doen't continue this good. after a while Maggie (Daughter of the Billionaire) gets suspicious to her husbands realationship with charlotte. Some kind of ridicoulous event makes her sure. so she tells that to her husband. they hesitate on it. Amerigo who has married maggie only for her money, successes to fool maggie again and dumps charlotte in some way. at the end, Amerigo and Maggie have their own life and Mr. Verver and Charoltt have their own and the movie ends. I don't know if any of you watched the AGE OF INNOCENCE, these two movies have extreme resembles. both of them have excellent production and directing but dissapointing story. This is a realistic movie. reality is good but this movie has based on kind of reality that's not too intresting.Movie Review: a portrait of a marriage
Summary: 4 Stars
I found this movie fascinating. I have not read the book, though I have read much of James. In the movie, at least, it is not at all clear that Amerigo would rather be with Charlotte, and is marrying Maggie only for the money. It seems instead that he is marrying Maggie in hopes of a happy life (which yes, includes money) but that he allows Charlotte to think he still loves her so she can save face. Charlotte chases Amerigo all through the movie and though she finally manages to seduce him, it's true what the Colonel says to his wife, that he doesn't really care for her. He admires her and is attracted to her but he doesn't love her.In contrast, he clearly does love Maggie and his son. He doesn't admire her until he first hears her say she doesn't like someone; at that moment she becomes more interesting to him, and when she confronts him, he falls in love with her. Somehow this all made perfect sense to me. In some way by Maggie pretending not to see she also let him think she didn't care.
When he realizes what his choices are, there is simply no contest.
It didn't seem to me that Maggie was manipulative in getting her father to take Charlotte away, although I suppose she was-- but it also was kind.
Anyway, maybe it's just that I saw this after the Sopranos finale (!) but I thought this was one of the most nuanced depictions of the levels in human relationships, particularly in marriage, that I've ever seen captured on film.
it's also beautiful to look at. A fascinating film in every respect.
Movie Review: Northam Makes the Film
Summary: 4 Stars
Unlike other reviewers, I haven't read _The Golden Bowl_ and I hate Henry James. Perhaps that's why I adored this film. Visually, it is even more sumptuous than most Merchant and Ivory films. But what makes the movie more than just a pretty package is Jeremy Northam, who in addition to being stunningly handsome as ever, delivers a performance of depth and nuance. Along with his wonderful roles in _Emma_ and _The Winslow Boy_, the part of Amerigo should help establish Northam as one of the best actors around, up there in my mind with Kenneth Branagh and . . . well I can't think of many others as good. Kate Beckinsale is also astonishing in this film, doing a much better job of playing an ingenue who finds unknown inner strength in a time of need than Winona Ryder did in _The Age of Innocence_. And the ever-reliable Nick Nolte delivers a believable, complex performance. The only thing that made this film a four-star rather than five-star film in my book was the appalling performance of Uma Thurman, who is so bad that at the climax of the film, when she delivers what should be the most poignant line of the movie, I actually burst out laughing in the theatre (very embarrassing). I can't think why directors haven't noticed that Ms. Thurman is these days merely a pretty face, but the rest of the cast and the production was stellar, and the story gripped my interest throughout.