i LOVED this movie. it is what you'd suspect a period piece about the poet john keats to be: depressing, slow at times, moody, dreary palette, sad ending.
BUT, the acting was superb. just very real and subtle. and i loved the costumes. the main female character, fanny brawne, makes a living by sewing and is said to be a fashion-forward lady of her time. her character was so sweet and firmly believes that her stitching is important and worthy.
she was played by abbie cornish:
who you might have previously seen in "elizabeth: the golden age" as elizabeth's lady in waiting, beth:
(which was a fabulous movie as well.)the actor, ben whishaw, who played john keats was very believable as well. i hadn't seen him in anything else but i looked him up on
IMDB and he played a small part in 2004's "merchant of venice" with al pacino as shylock, which i actually have seen, and he played a small part in the bob dylan biopic "i'm not there" which i have not seen.
the movie outlines his struggles as a poet and he has no money and has to rely on his mentor, another poet, charles brown, played by paul schneider:
who you might've seen lately as this guy from nbc's "parks and recreation":
he was really spectacular as well, but i was kinda distracted by his fake prosthetic pot belly. it was like really low and kinda weird-looking.
anyways, brown is kind of a father figure to keats and wants him to focus on his poetry but keats is distracted by fanny brawne, who lives in his building. brown thinks of fanny as an annoyance, a female who wastes her time with fashion who gets in the way of their poetry writing. (which i think is ironic because today a seamstress,or a fashion designer, would make loads more money and be typically more respectable then a modern-day poet.) the whole movie they are fighting to be together even though keats can't propose to fanny because he has no money. and he can't earn more money unless he writes more poetry...which he's not inclined to do because he's in love with fanny. conundrum, perhaps?
the ending, of course, is tragic but the movie is very beautiful and best to watch when you can totally devote your time to the 2 hour running time and just become absorbed in the characters and the storyline. it reminded me a lot of the newer version of "pride and prejudice" with kiera knightly (one of my top 3 movies) but not quite as light-hearted.
(this is a pic of fanny and her little sister, who she has a love/annoyance relationship with - very real and cute.)and lastly the more famous of the two main characters is the romantic poet, john keats, but i couldn't get enough of fanny brawne. and after all the movie is named "bright star" because keats writes a poem with the same name dedicated to fanny. she really is the star of the movie and you are overwhelmed by her emotions and reactions. she lives for his letters when he is away and becomes physically ill when he's not there. they're both artists in their own way, she with her sewing and he with his poetry, and they're obsessed with each other because they just click and get each other.
i'm not sure when it comes out on dvd but it still might be playing in some dollar theatres or somewhere like that. but i know hands down i'm gonna own this one.
go rent this movie. i promise, you won't regret it. i finally saw it this christmas weekend and it was one of the most enjoyable movies i've EVER SEEN. everything about it is perfect: the stop-motion, the voices, the funny parts, the music, the colors - i really can't say enough about how much i liked this movie.
i also loved all the one-liners, there's a million of them. so funny and original, go see it!
