I haven't used the above summary "line" for a while but must have for quite a few times in the 870 odd postings to-date. What it conjures up in my mind is a piece of intimate, self-contained, exquisite cinema that is, it wouldn't be far wrong to say, the opposite to an epic, although they can be equally pleasurable to experiences.
The montage of the opening scene deftly sets the stage. After a brief introduction of a young New York couple who are dressing (and casually chatting) for an evening out, the scene cuts back and forth between sketches of the party scene and Joanna's (Keira Knightley) pensive, reflective face in the cab on their way home. What "happened" in the party is just Joanna noticing how Michael (Sam Worthington) spends most of the evening in what appears intimate conversion with an attractive colleague Laura (Eva Mendes) whose existence she has never been aware of before, despite the fact that Michael was recently in a business trip with her. The 4-year marriage comes under a stress test when it Joanna realizes that Michael and Laura will be on another trip together in the next day, to Philadelphia (even though this is only for one night and they are accompanied by other colleagues). Then, shortly after Michael has left, Joanna bumps into Alex (Guillaume Canet), an "on-and-off" French boyfriend from Paris where they first met. They are both writers, although Joanna has so far published only one book ("a very good book", Alex keeps telling people).
The rest of the movie follows the development of these two pairs, in New York and Philadelphia respectively, cutting back and forth and often employing voice-over to precede the scenes. I have made this sound mechanical, maybe even deliberately, but there is no point trying to give a pedantic account of how mesmerizing this movie becomes. The enjoyment comes from watching it.
Maybe just a few hints, and SPOILERS. In Philadelphia, it is doubtlessly sensual, but also assiduously subtle. Don't expect torrid love scenes (although there is a brief one - love scene, thats is, but not torrid). With absolutely alluring full lips, Mendes would rather have her seductive charm ooze from a languid dialogue of her heartbreaking lost love. In New York, things are even more bittersweet, when layer after layer of hidden emotions are peeled away, revealing the depth of feeling Joanna and Alex have for each other. She ends up "in bed" with him, in the ultra-literal sense (think Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in "Lost in translation"). One film review likens their evening and night together to "Before sunrise" (1995), which is quite insightful. There's one difference though: Jesse and Celine made love, twice (as we found out in "Before sunset" (2004)), before the night was over.
It is a pleasure to see Knightley maturing into a role that she hasn't been seen in before. Worthington, after an assortment of worlds such as Earth after a nuclear holocaust, an exotic planet called Avatar and mythological Greece, in good in coming down to earth with a troubled marriage and facing temptation. Canet is such a heart-throb that had he been English, he would be the undisputed successor to Hugh Grant, and with more charm and less comedy.
The movie is intelligently open-ended, consistent with its contemplative tone.
Finally, I can't finish without pointing out how international this movie is: the four leads are, respectively, English, Australian, French and Cuban-American. Just to hear the variety of ways English is spoken is sheer fun.
The montage of the opening scene deftly sets the stage. After a brief introduction of a young New York couple who are dressing (and casually chatting) for an evening out, the scene cuts back and forth between sketches of the party scene and Joanna's (Keira Knightley) pensive, reflective face in the cab on their way home. What "happened" in the party is just Joanna noticing how Michael (Sam Worthington) spends most of the evening in what appears intimate conversion with an attractive colleague Laura (Eva Mendes) whose existence she has never been aware of before, despite the fact that Michael was recently in a business trip with her. The 4-year marriage comes under a stress test when it Joanna realizes that Michael and Laura will be on another trip together in the next day, to Philadelphia (even though this is only for one night and they are accompanied by other colleagues). Then, shortly after Michael has left, Joanna bumps into Alex (Guillaume Canet), an "on-and-off" French boyfriend from Paris where they first met. They are both writers, although Joanna has so far published only one book ("a very good book", Alex keeps telling people).
The rest of the movie follows the development of these two pairs, in New York and Philadelphia respectively, cutting back and forth and often employing voice-over to precede the scenes. I have made this sound mechanical, maybe even deliberately, but there is no point trying to give a pedantic account of how mesmerizing this movie becomes. The enjoyment comes from watching it.
Maybe just a few hints, and SPOILERS. In Philadelphia, it is doubtlessly sensual, but also assiduously subtle. Don't expect torrid love scenes (although there is a brief one - love scene, thats is, but not torrid). With absolutely alluring full lips, Mendes would rather have her seductive charm ooze from a languid dialogue of her heartbreaking lost love. In New York, things are even more bittersweet, when layer after layer of hidden emotions are peeled away, revealing the depth of feeling Joanna and Alex have for each other. She ends up "in bed" with him, in the ultra-literal sense (think Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in "Lost in translation"). One film review likens their evening and night together to "Before sunrise" (1995), which is quite insightful. There's one difference though: Jesse and Celine made love, twice (as we found out in "Before sunset" (2004)), before the night was over.
It is a pleasure to see Knightley maturing into a role that she hasn't been seen in before. Worthington, after an assortment of worlds such as Earth after a nuclear holocaust, an exotic planet called Avatar and mythological Greece, in good in coming down to earth with a troubled marriage and facing temptation. Canet is such a heart-throb that had he been English, he would be the undisputed successor to Hugh Grant, and with more charm and less comedy.
The movie is intelligently open-ended, consistent with its contemplative tone.
Finally, I can't finish without pointing out how international this movie is: the four leads are, respectively, English, Australian, French and Cuban-American. Just to hear the variety of ways English is spoken is sheer fun.