The Reader

[Watashi]

Trailer (http://www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/thereader/hd/)

Meh.

It's a well-made trailer, though.

[Ezee E]

This took the place of The Road? :|

[NickGlass]

I've read the book, and the subject is very baity. Certainly not provocative, but with aspirations to be so.

[NickGlass]

Not exactly the Oscar-baiting disaster I anticipated, but it's hardly indelible; it's a faithful adaptation--and it still suffers from a hokey second half.

[eternity]

That was an absolute disaster.

[Amnesiac]

the subject is very baity. Certainly not provocative, but with aspirations to be so.

Well, it's provoked some folks (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thelma-adams/reading-between-the-lines_b_147631.html), such as Thelma Adams:


"The Reader? It's goodish. And Kate Winslet is, as ever, brilliant. And it has Nazis, which elevates it on the Oscar nom scale. But I'm not critiquing it here. I'm addressing its portrayal of child abuse - an adult having sex with a minor.

[...]

Michael is a victim of abuse, and his abuser just happened to have been a luscious retired Auschwitz guard. You can call their tryst and its consequences a metaphor of two generations of Germans passing guilt from one to the next, but that doesn't explain why filmmakers Daldry and Hare luxuriated in the sex scenes -- and why it's so tastefully done audiences won't see it for the child pornography it is."

To which Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood-Elsewhere (http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2008/12/basic_morality.php) replied:


"If an older man takes a 15 year-old girl to bed, he's an animal and a scumbag who deserves to go to jail. But if you're a 15 year-old teenage boy (or 14 or 16 or whatever), you automatically get down on your knees and give thanks to God if an older woman wants to go to bed with you. No ifs, ands or buts -- it's a gleaming gift from heaven.

If a woman in her 20s or 30s or even her 40s had been interested in yours truly when I was 15 or so, I would have turned out a much happier person -- certainly a more optimistic one. There's no way in the world I would have ever been screwed up or even moderately traumatized by such a blessed, rhapsodic event.

So, yeah. I actually think situations like these probably aren't as clean cut as either Adams or Wells seem to be proposing. I mean, just because Wells thinks he would have become a much happier person if some vicenarian minx swept him off his 15-year-old feet... that doesn't thereby sweep the ethical concerns concomitant with these situations under the rug. Age is never just a number. And it is the responsibility of adults to discern what qualifies as a healthy relationship; that isn't some fairy-tale notion.

[eternity]

If a woman in her 20s or 30s or even her 40s had been interested in yours truly when I was 15 or so, I would have turned out a much happier person -- certainly a more optimistic one. There's no way in the world I would have ever been screwed up or even moderately traumatized by such a blessed, rhapsodic event.

Sorry Amn, but this seems a bit closer than what Thelma Adams or the film is trying to say. It plays it to the extreme of the other side, and in the most melodramatic, borderline hilarious way.

[eternity]

Allow me to review this film with a picture and quote from another film:

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5108/thereaderbw3.png

Am I supposed to be a man, am I supposed to say, it's OK, I don't mind. I don't mind. Well I mind! I mind big time? And you know what the worst part is? I NEVER LEARNED TO READ.

[Amnesiac]

Sorry Amn, but this seems a bit closer than what Thelma Adams or the film is trying to say.

Closer to what? Reality? That is, the reality that most older men are looking back on the missed opportunities of their early teenage years and wishing they had fallen into a tryst with an older woman? And hypothetically claiming that they would have grown into better men because of it?

Also, I haven't seen the film yet.

[eternity]

Closer to what? Reality? That is, the reality that most older men are looking back on the missed opportunities of their early teenage years and wishing they had fallen into a tryst with an older woman? And hypothetically claiming that they would have grown into better men because of it?

Also, I haven't seen the film yet.

Let's just say that the "trauma" he experiences later in his life in response to having sex with a 35 year old woman at 15 is about as melodramatic, unconvincing and over-the-top as it could be.

[Mal]

Eternity hates it? Must. See. Movie.

[number8]

Man. Most unconvincing aging ever.

David Kross at 22, turns into Ralph Fiennes at 32? And somehow he lost his accent in the process, too.

[Wryan]

How old is 15, really? -- Dave Chappelle

[Ezee E]

Man. Most unconvincing aging ever.

David Kross at 22, turns into Ralph Fiennes at 32? And somehow he lost his accent in the process, too.
Ralph Fiennes is suppose to be 32 in that movie?

Oops.

[number8]

Ralph Fiennes is suppose to be 32 in that movie?

Oops.

I miscounted a year, but yeah.

Kross plays the character in 2 time periods: 1958 (15) and 1966 (23).

Fiennes plays the character in 3 time periods: 1976 (33), 1986 (43) and 1995 (52).

[eternity]

I miscounted a year, but yeah.

Kross plays the character in 2 time periods: 1958 (15) and 1966 (23).

Fiennes plays the character in 3 time periods: 1976 (33), 1986 (43) and 1995 (52).

For how well (I hear) they handled the aging/de-aging of characters in Benjamin Button, The Reader is the direct opposite.

[Barty]

Surprisingly this is one of the better movies of the year.

[Morris Schæffer]

Surprisingly this is one of the better movies of the year.

Although I haven't seen it, it seems really wrong that this was nominated instead of The Wrestler for best pic. In any case, I'll check it out eventually.

[Watashi]

It's passable melodramtic end-of-the-year fluff.

Nowhere near the hate it deserves for taking The Dark Knight's spot, but it has some good moments. Kross outshines Winslet though. She shouldn't be getting all this Oscar support.

[lovejuice]

http://www.slate.com/id/2210804

quite interesting.

[lovejuice]

read the book. have yet watched the movie. but i think what rosenbaum described hardly captured the crux of the event. true, winslet is a nazi working in the camp, but if i remember correctly, she's actually pulling a schindler here, recruiting female prisoners, saving their lives, in exchange of their reading to her.

there is even an explicit claim that she has nothing to do with the killing -- assumed here that nazi bureaucracy is just like any bureaucracy, there are people who authorized the liquidation and people who just there, running things -- but was blamed as such by her colleages and herself.

so i don't know. what do people who actually watch the film think?

[NickGlass]

It implies that she is alternately Schindler and a killer.

For what it's worth, here's my review: http://www.thelmagazine.com/film/film.cfm?listings_id2=212762

[lovejuice]

The Reader is loyal to the source material, from its strengths to its flaws.

this statement is right on.

never realized it's directed by daldry, which is a shame because i really like both the hours and billy elliot. hard to believe too since the reader is so...dry. in their book formats, i am equally impartial toward the reader as i am atonement. but while wright righted some of mcewan's wrong, daldry did nothing to schlink's. if anything, i'll say i prefer schlink's prose to daldry's direction.

[Kurosawa Fan]

This movie had no strengths. It was silly from start to finish. Dramatically limp, poorly written, poorly acted (yep, even Winslet), melodramatic in the worst way... I couldn't wait for it to end. This is the worst BP nominee this year, and up there with the worst I've ever seen. Maybe that's just a gut reaction, and maybe I'm being hyperbolic, but I really don't think so. I hated this film.

[eternity]

This movie had no strengths. It was silly from start to finish. Dramatically limp, poorly written, poorly acted (yep, even Winslet), melodramatic in the worst way... I couldn't wait for it to end. This is the worst BP nominee this year, and up there with the worst I've ever seen. Maybe that's just a gut reaction, and maybe I'm being hyperbolic, but I really don't think so. I hated this film.
You're dead-on.

[Watashi]

The Reader >>> Juno

[eternity]

The Reader >>> Juno
In bizarro crazy land where white is east and down is seven, you're right.

[number8]

The Reader >>> Juno

That really does not say much at all.

[Kurosawa Fan]

The Reader >>> Juno

Nope. I'd rather watch Juno again. Easily. Juno had J.K. Simmons.

[Ezee E]

This took the place of The Road? :|

Again...

Ugh.

Watched this yesterday before the Oscars, and what a waste of time.

[Boner M]

I'm gonna pre-emptively give this a 39.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I'm gonna pre-emptively give this a 39.

2hi

[Watashi]

I can't believe Barty thinks this was the best film of the nominees.

[Spinal]

Going to see this this afternoon. I predict I will like this much more than most of you. We'll see how it goes.

[number8]

I dunno, I think I still like the first half. After the trial everything got useless.

[Spinal]

Well ... not quite. I think the courtroom section is strong. I really liked the discussion of morality versus the law that occurred in the seminar led by Ganz' character. Throughout the middle part, I thought I was going to be a supporter.

However, too many bad scenes. Too much forced emoting. And the ending goes on and on without really adding much to the experience. It makes me appreciate the power and elegance of something like The Lives of Others.

Also, this is not nearly one of Winslet's best performances. Not by a long shot.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Also, this is not nearly one of Winslet's best performances. Not by a long shot.

We definitely agree on this. I'm happy for her because I like her as an actress, but it's a shame that this was the film that finally got her an award.

[lovejuice]

Well ... not quite. I think the courtroom section is strong. I really liked the discussion of morality versus the law that occurred in the seminar led by Ganz' character. Throughout the middle part, I thought I was going to be a supporter.

However, too many bad scenes. Too much forced emoting. And the ending goes on and on without really adding much to the experience. It makes me appreciate the power and elegance of something like The Lives of Others.

sound like you might enjoy the book. the middle part is even better, and as far as the memory serves me right, it doesn't really have the ending section.

[number8]

We definitely agree on this. I'm happy for her because I like her as an actress, but it's a shame that this was the film that finally got her an award.

I'm pissed that she didn't thank the person most responsible for the win = Ricky Gervais (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEnjiGwVw6o).

[Ezee E]

Kate would've been deserving had it been Revolutionary Road. Meh. They rule out two performances by the same actress in the category.

[Spinal]

Winslet performances ranked:

1. Holy Smoke
2. Jude
3. Heavenly Creatures
4. Little Children
5. Hamlet
6. Sense and Sensibility
7. Quills
8. Titanic
9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
10. The Reader

Yes, I do believe it's my least favorite.

[number8]

Kate would've been deserving had it been Revolutionary Road. Meh. They rule out two performances by the same actress in the category.

But in that one, she didn't have old lady make-up! That's no range.

[Raiders]

Yes, I do believe it's my least favorite.

At least that saves you from having to ever again utter the inconceivable phrase "ESOTSM is Winslet's worst performance."

[Winston*]

I wonder if her winning the Oscar means she'll be starring in less crying movies and more movies I'd like to see.

[Spinal]

At least that saves you from having to ever again utter the inconceivable phrase "ESOTSM is Winslet's worst performance."

It's all relative of course. None of them are less than 'very good'.

[Spinal]

I wonder if her winning the Oscar means she'll be starring in less crying movies and more movies I'd like to see.

Rush Hour 4!

[Winston*]

Rush Hour 4!

Is she replacing Chris Tucker or Jackie Chan?

[Ezee E]

Winston must've loved The Holiday.

[Boner M]

Just got back from seeing this. First of all, I'd like to say that the girl who plays the cute law student is probably the most attractive girl I have seen in a movie in quite some time. She's a little mannequin-ish in terms of screen presence, possibly due to how the character's written, but conversely this gives her a screen-for-projection quality that sent me off in swoony reveries during not just her screentime, but also throughout the rest of the film. One particular projection involved her and I eating out at my favorite Mexican place. We order tacos, and she gets a bit of mince on her chin and tries to lick it off, before I reached across the table and wipe it off using my thumb. Suddenly her sullenly beautiful, Binoche-via-Nico face lights up with laughter, causing me to melt all over. I even tip the waitress by 20% at the end of the night, which is odd considering I don't tip at all.

Numerous other reveries were had by me, but they're a little too vulgar to be shared on a message board that I imagine some of you are posting at work from. When I arrived home, my first instinct was to look her up on IMDb - Karoline Herfurth. Turns out that I had seen her before in Perfume, but hadn't taken much notice of her beauty there. That film was pretty good, albeit strangely forgettable given Tykwer's trademark emphatic style, and a doozy of a climactic scene. I'm pretty sure I've seen this girl in another film - if I remember correctly, it had lots of artfully lit naked people - although I can't be sure. Any help, guys? Anyway, IMDb also tells me that Herfurth's in The Reader, which I haven't seen yet, but also haven't heard a lot of good things about from the folks at match-cut and elsewhere. I'll probably catch up with it eventually, on account of my long-standing and unfortunate tendency to see every best picture nominee while they're still playing in theaters. If it's stultifyingly dull, I can at least pass the time by making up a gimmicky review of it in my head to share later on match-cut when I arrive home. It might not be as fun for everyone to read as it is for me to write, but it'll likely be more engaging and involving than watching The Reader.

[number8]

I'm confused. You loved her in The Reader but you haven't seen The Reader? Or is that a typo? If it is, stop typing with one hand.

[DavidSeven]

I think boner is saying the The Reader is so unremarkable that he forgot he saw it halfway through writing his own review of it. Meta-zing.

[Boner M]

I think that'll be the last stunt review I write.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I think that'll be the last stunt review I write.

I liked it.

[Winston*]

I liked it.

Me too.

[kuehnepips]

3. Heavenly Creatures


Man, do I hate this film.

But she was excellent in it.

The Reader I'll not see nor read.

[Mara]

Man, do I hate this film.

But she was excellent in it.


I don't think I've ever known someone who hated this film. I thought it was amazing.

[DavidSeven]

Me too.

Thirded. It was really helpful too. Under-the-radar h0tties should be top priority in every review.

[Watashi]

She wasn't that attractive. A bit plain.

[Wryan]

Man, do I hate this film.

But she was excellent in it.

The Reader I'll not see nor read.

Hello there, sweetheart. Nice to have you around.

But I love HC. :(

[Ivan Drago]

Man, do I hate this film.

But she was excellent in it.

The Reader I'll not see nor read.

All that's missing now is The Pup. :)

[Morris Schæffer]

Despite good intentions, I was thouroughly unconvinced by this movie's dramatic pull. And yeah, rarely have I been so unpersuaded by a film jumping back and forth in time. The age differences just struck me as all kinds of silly.

I'm puzzled by this review blurb though:

"This movie invites you to unlock the mystery. Would you be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect a secret?"

What kind of sacrifice did the Fiennes character have to make? At least, I'm assuming the reviewer refers to the Fiennes character.

[Adam]

Kate Winslet is the one making the ultimate sacrifice - choosing death over admitting she can't read

[Morris Schæffer]

Ah yes of course. Thanks Adam!

EDIT: What a crappy reason to prefer death. Perhaps she just wanted to die, but the movie never made clear she regretted having chosen to work for the SS.

[Melville]

Ah yes of course. Thanks Adam!

EDIT: What a crappy reason to prefer death. Perhaps she just wanted to die, but the movie never made clear she regretted having chosen to work for the SS.
The whole point is that her decision is based on something that appears objectively trivial. Although the film is formally garbage, I think its thematics are consistently underrated. My review: http://melvillian.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/the-reader-daldry-2008/

EDIT: oh, yeah, major spoilers in my review. That can be said of every review in my blog, I think.

Post-edit Edit: oh, you're referring to Adam's comment. Yeah, that should be spoiler-tagged.

[megladon8]

Holy spoilers, Batman.