Anna Karenina (Joe Wright)

[Watashi]

IMDb

[Watashi]

Stylistically, this is Speed Racer by Tolstoy. The continuous stage-setting is refreshing at first, but it ultimately becomes a distraction.

It's funny that I saw The Deep Blue Sea earlier this week because that does Anna Karenina better than this film. All I could think about was how much better Rachel Weisz was at Anna than Keira Knightley.

[Mal]

A pleasant theatrical experience but I just can't give it a Yay. I have too many reservations about the style of this film and how much Wright did and did not do to boost the material.

[number8]

It's a very slight, very superficial adaptation. I don't think the style ever became a distraction, but it only serves itself, and by having the film move so effortlessly fast, it makes Anna's love for Kick-Ass seem more bipolar than a discovery.

[EyesWideOpen]

Stylistically, this is Speed Racer by Tolstoy. The continuous stage-setting is refreshing at first, but it ultimately becomes a distraction.

I disagree. I actually was disappointed that after using it heavily for the first 30 minutes or so of the movie it went away except for rare occasions throughout the rest of the film.

[kopello]

Don't really have much to say about this one other than I enjoyed the theatrics of it all but I found the story a total snooze.

[NickGlass]

Aaron Johnson makes me laugh. He's very pretty, but silly; his ostentatious gestures highlight the absurdity of performance while his occasionally flat delivery is rendered transparently dull considering the juxtaposed flair for camp. Wait, I forgot if I was talking about Aaron or Anna Karenina itself. Umm, oh yeah, it's definitely both.

[ledfloyd]

Stylistically, this is Speed Racer by Tolstoy. The continuous stage-setting is refreshing at first, but it ultimately becomes a distraction.

conversely, i didn't feel it was faithful enough to its aesthetic. it would shift from the overly theatrical stage-settings to more conventional sets, to the russian countryside, but then would have outdoor scenes inside, etc. etc. it was jarring and kept me from ever being able to become fully enveloped in the story, despite it being the most beautiful film i've seen from 2012.

[Spinal]

This film confirms for me that Wright is one of the most stylish, pleasingly theatrical directors alive. And yet, once again, he's working with material of limited interest. I just find it hard to care all that much about 19th century slut shaming.

[Lucky]

This is not the adaptation I was hoping to see from Wright after reading this novel. He boiled an enriching, multicentric, psychological character study down to a stagey soap opera. Ugh. This might have been more palatable had I been unfamiliar with Tolstoy's original work. As it stands--a gross misfire.

EDIT: Must give credit to the ball dance sequence. One of my favorite parts of the novel as well.

[Izzy Black]

This film confirms for me that Wright is one of the most stylish, pleasingly theatrical directors alive. And yet, once again, he's working with material of limited interest. I just find it hard to care all that much about 19th century slut shaming.

Yeah. Because it's so irrelevant. And stuff.

[number8]

Yeah. Because it's so irrelevant. And stuff.

The 19th century is sooo two centuries ago.

[Qrazy]

Why is there an enormous A and K in that poster, that's dumb as hell.

[Spinal]

Yeah. Because it's so irrelevant. And stuff.

There are certain topics that I'm just not grappling with at this point in my life. And stuff.

[Qrazy]

There are certain topics that I'm just not grappling with at this point in my life. And stuff.

Prob cause you're not a slut, give it a shot and then see if the film resonates.

But in all seriousness do read the book because it has a psychological complexity that I'm sure the film didn't fully capture. It's a classic for a reason and the reason is not the overarching narrative as much as it is the nuanced portrayal of these characters.

[Peng]

Several dents here: even as a non-book reader, I can tell there's some wobbly adapting job going on during third act; the theatrical conceit is inconsistently employed; Aaron fuckin' Taylor-Johnson (on the other end of genre spectrum, Godzilla hinders itself by choosing his bland presence as the human focus)... but that gorgeously orchestrated conceit so totally overwhelms me into submission. Whenever it appears, Wright's camera helps heighten the characters' feeling and situations' turn into the stratosphere; if it's up to me, that expressionistic tableau of a waltz scene could have gone on forever. 7.5/10