A coming-of-age story about a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London, and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy nearly twice her age. [imdb]
Nominated for 3 Oscars:
Best Picture
Best Actress: Carey Mulligan
Best Adapted Screenplay
This movie is so British, so nice and so sweet. And well directed, and cool and trendy and... current in a strange way. And fun, and playful, and well acted. And it moves around so fast, really. And maybe that's also something I'm holding against it: it never settles... the plot never stops for a moment of quiet.
The screenplay is fun and I understand it wasn't an easy adaptation, as it required some story changes. The direction is inventive, but subtle and Carey's performance (which I'll soon write about on the other blog) is a star is born type of performance. It's so good (and she's perfect for the role) that I doubt she'll ever be able to top this. And talk about the best short-role of the year: Emma Thompson is so fierce in her 3-5 minutes performance that I would've actually suggested an Oscar nom.
My rating for the film: 8.5/10. Why not a 9? Because it goes by so fast, as I've said. :P PS: Peter Sarsgaard and Alfred Molina are also veeeery good.
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All is right with the world :) So glad to see someone mention Sarsgaard who WAS good.
ReplyDeleteGood movie. As I said in my review of it, it grew on me the second time. I wish Gabby or Carey would have won. So, have you now seen all of the nominees except for Helen Mirren? Or are you going to see The Last Station again?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I don't have The Last Station yet. This and A Single Man... but I'm optimistic I'll have them by the end of the month, so that I can post my own 2009 highlights in a month or so.
ReplyDeleteHelen Mirren overacts a lot, but she has some good moments, but overall, it just average and not really oscar-worthy.
ReplyDeleteWould you do a ranking of Best Picture nominees after you finished The Hurt Locker?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm so excited everytime I read your blog. Keep up the good work!
well, I think the ranking of my Top favorites for 2009 which I'll post on Alex in Movieland next month will be a bit more interesting :)
ReplyDeleteNot a big fan of An Education...Mulligan and Molina easily make it worthwhile but I didn't like the script or the direction at all.
ReplyDeleteurrent in a strange way. And fun, and playful, and well acted. And it moves around so fast, really. And maybe that's also something I'm holding against it: it never settles... the plot never stops for a moment of quiet.
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