|
Silk Posters
Photos Art
Search for Posters Art Prints, photos and get
results from all the many categories from Amazon including
books, videos, dvds, toys, video games, and more.
|
|
|
Posters Art
Prints Photos collectables |
|
|
|
|
|
|
If for some reason you can't find what the
poster or art print your looking for try using the search boxes
below
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Rating:  -
I'm not going to go into any details, but I will say that I wish Amazon could refund the time I spent watching this movie. It looked like it would have promise but in the end it was a big dud. Watch it at your own risk!
Rating: -
It's been years since I read the Alessandro Barrico novella this film was based off, but what I do remember is its slight weight - the book is 91 pages long, the pages being not much bigger than your average Japanese paperback and a good many of them only half-inscribed. The book is minimalist and quite heavily stylised in its language. Translating such a book onto celluloid would be a tough ask for anyone.
'Silk', like its namesake, certainly looks the part. The entire film has been beautifully shot, and landscapes that depict the main character, Herve's, crossing of Eurasia are particularly breathtaking. Costumes, sets, every visual has been executed with an eye to even the smallest detail. 'Silk' is sumptuous to look upon. Unfortunately, that's about all the film has to recommend itself.
Plotwise, the film narrative follows the book adequately. Herve Joncour (Michael Pitt), on leave from the French Army in 1862, returns to the small French village where his father is mayor and falls in love with the local school teacher, Helene (Keira Knightley); he's promised a helping hand in marrying her by the entrepreneur, Baldabiou (Alfred Molina), if he agrees to fetch silkworm eggs to replenish the town's disease-ridden stocks. Herve of course agrees, gets to marry Helene, and soon enough is on his way to Japan, where he becomes infatuated with the village headman's beautiful, silent concubine. The rest of the film is concerned with the results of this infatuation over the course of the next decade or so. Coming as it does from such a skeletal book, stretching the film out to two hours was a mistake. The action crawls at a pace that would put a snail to shame, and most of the plot developments are predictable (barring the final revelation, which even in the book I thought was ridiculous).
This was a script that relied heavily on its actors to bring fresh life to characters and stories that audiences these days are all too familiar with. And therein lies my biggest gripe with 'Silk'. In the hands of a charismatic or capable lead actor, the film may have overcome its stilted pacing, but whoever decided to cast Michael Pitt in the lead role might have been better off casting two planks of wood. There's very little connection with the character and no attempts made to connect with the audience; Pitt has, if I might borrow a phrase from Hermione Granger, the emotional range of a teaspoon. Every line (including endless voiceovers) is delivered in the same unremarkable, Romeo-in-the-tenth-grade-play mumble. Pitt looks throughout the entire film either half-asleep, stoned or suffering the after-effects of a stroke. As a lead actor in a romantic drama about unrequited love and passionate obsession, his is possibly one of the worst performances in recent memory.
It's only Keira Knightley's performance as the faithful Helene that rescues this film from complete frigidity. Known mostly to me in roles where the adjectives 'exaggerated', 'extroverted' or 'spirited' are simply bywords for 'annoying as all get out', Knightley shows surprising restraint in her portrayal of Helene as the childless wife, growing more weary and heartsore as the years pass, knowing full well her husband's heart is (supposed to be) possessed by another. Despite her dearth of screen time, in the end it is Helene's anguish and turmoil that provides the only real emotional connection within the film.
I was disappointed with the film's rather stereotypical portrayal of Japan as the Inscrutable Orient. The village headman is kindness and generosity itself until he (inevitably, inexplicably) turns on Herve. The nameless women are presented as subservient to the point of mutability; the headman's concubine disappears into the onsen waters as though her existence were nothing more than a wisp of smoke. Japanese women here are basically reduced to sexual objects, so much so the only one permitted to speak is a prostitute, plying her trade in France. Incredibly disappointing.
Overall, 'Silk' is a beautiful looking film that is seriously hampered with issues of pacing and a lead actor who couldn't act his way out of a mime's imaginary box. Devotees of landscapes, cinematography, or Keira Knightley might get something out of it, but for the general populace - do yourself a favour and just read the book (it'll take less time).
Rating:  -
Well, I just finished watching Silk, and all I can think about is the hour and a half of my life I'll never get back...The scenery in this movie is a feast for the eyes, and the only pro as the dull and lifeless script made me fast-forward through most of the movie. I found the characters to be very underdeveloped, as well as the plot; specifically I had issue when Michael Pitt's character Herve develops an fixation with a Japanese concubine, which is a major reason why he makes repeated trips back to Japan (the backbone of the movie), seems very unfounded; the two have very little screen time and no dialogue, yet an "obsession" blooms. If you love historical fiction as I do, I recommend something more satisfying... like the English Patient, Zelery, Pride & Prejudice
Rating:  -
This is a cinematic masterpiece -- the music, the scenery, the absolutely perfectly choreographed interactions of the characters (themselves beautiful and unpretentious in their portrayals)...the subtext is rich and multi-layered -- we are given an opportunity to see how desire, in its many forms, affects individuals and others around them -- how it informs and how it inspires and at times, controls us obsessively, even blinding us from the realities that are before us -- for many reasons. If you're patient, attentive, and open to the nuances that abound, this is a rewarding, rich film that is at times brutally candid and at others, dreamily opulent with wonder. One of my new favorites...I was captivated until the last note of the soundtrack was played.
Rating:  -
I read the novel `Silk' by Alessandro Baricco and loved it. Therefore, I was rather wary of seeing the adaptation. But when I saw the film, I was not disappointed; the visual imagery is beautiful and the Japanese symbolism was well-related.
The location of the story is France in 1862. Herve (Michael Pitt) is convinced by Baldabiou (Alfred Molina) to travel in search of silkworm eggs in order to save the silk-making business. Herve travels to Africa and Japan. During his trip to Japan, he falls in love with a Japanese concubine. When he returns home to France, he cannot forget the Japanese beauty and continues to obsessively long for her.
The untranslated Japanese conversations allows the audience to relate to the main character, as he too does not understand the language. Keira Knightly made a wonderful `Hélène' but I wasn't convinced by Michael Pitt as the main character `Hervé Joncour'; the obsessive inner turmoil wasn't portrayed well on screen. Overall, however, I think the film is well-worth seeing.
|
