DP/30: Anna Karenina, actor Keira Knightley

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7 Responses to “DP/30: Anna Karenina, actor Keira Knightley”

1. Lex says:

   December 8, 2012 at 2:54 am

   LOOK AT HER. The world’s most perfect and CHARMING woman.
2. NightTale says:

   December 8, 2012 at 8:41 am

   I thought she was frighteningly good in Anna Karenina. It really takes a fearless actress to play such an unlikable/complex character. She deserves praise for playing such a role and I hope AMPAS gives her a second Oscar nomination.
3. Not David Bordwell says:

   December 8, 2012 at 9:50 am

   I would like to point out that she played an equally unlikable/complex character without fear in Cronenberg’s A DANGEROUS METHOD without all this effusive praise. She was already astonishing in that film, but now she gets the Oscar buzz? Perplexing.
4. Actionman says:

   December 8, 2012 at 10:05 am

   Sooooooo disgusted that AK hasn’t opened in my area. What are they doing with the release of this supposedly groundbreaking adaptation?

   She’s stunningly beautiful, and hugely talented, a rare combo. Have always been a massive fan. Domino POWER.
5. Lex says:

   December 8, 2012 at 12:09 pm

   Anna Karenina is terrific, big Joe Wright fan, and Keira is one of my absolute favorites (and the only woman for whom I’d maybe take a pass on K-Stew), but quick stylistic question about AK:

   This is a minority opinion, but anyone else think its stylistic “audacity” is being maybe overstated? Reviews both pro- and con talk at length about its formalistic quirks, like the “staged” elements and going backstage, etc. Anyone else feel like those were kind of neither here nor there? Honestly, 95% of the movie seemed to play like a really good, invested, visceral period movie, and then every 25 minutes or so they’d break the fourth wall just a smidge, and you kinda go, “Okay, fine, going with it, whatever,” then it returns to the big epic movie that it is.

   Just everyone talking about how CRA-A-A-AZY Wright’s choice to do that is, but it’s hardly what I remember about the movie, and didn’t seem to add or detract in any real way. Honestly think a lot of casual viewers wouldn’t even notice it.
6. Mike says:

   December 8, 2012 at 6:38 pm

   Lex, I haven’t seen AK, but I remember bits and pieces of Atonement in a similar way. I remember the weird score–which used the typewriter–and how I thought it was clever at first, but then overused. The same with the long uncut shot on the beach in Dunkirk. His flair for the dramatic feels too calculated sometimes, and adds little to the whole work.
7. Actionman says:

   December 8, 2012 at 7:43 pm

   That shot at Dunkirk is a fucking marvel of filmmaking, and his one-take-fight with Bana in Hanna was supreme. Joe Wright feels like he came from the same school as Mendes.