<*dv_0*> Tired of trendy films with nameless casts? Do you long for the day Mills and Boon transfer their masterpieces to the silver screen? Do you appreciate overrought period dramas adapted from novels? Well, you are in luck because so does Antony Minghella.
<*dv_4*> After the English Patient and The Talented Mr Ripley, Minghellas latest epic is a classic love story set during the American Civil War based on the award winning novel by Charles Frazier. Jude Law is Inman, a small-town Confederate soldier, who gets bloody and muddy fighting the Yankees and ends up in hospital after running around a field stabbing people. Whilst recovering in his hospital bed he comes up with the bright idea of walking the million miles back to Cold Mountain over hill and dale to the one-horse North Carolina village where his beloved Ada (Nicole Kidman) is waiting for him. Plus he misses his chickens.
What ensues is a cross country ramble a-la-Forest Gump but without the laughs or the Nikes where Inman meets a selection of characters all effected by the war in different ways: lecherous priests, corrupt patriots and sleazy locals all play a part in his journey back to his sweetheart. His quest is interspersed with life back on Cold Mountain where Ada is struggling to come to terms with losing her beloved, her father, her peace-time privileges and is fighting off the affections of nasty Home Guard captain Teague (Ray Winstone). That is until help arrives in the shape of Calamity Jane-alike Ruby (Renee Zellweger) who has more balls then Titleist and gets to work toughening up the drippy Ada.
<*dv_3*> Cold Mountain is a lush, detailed and lavishly produced film but forget the Oscar hype and all the talk of how beautiful the film is, (it was mostly filmed in Transylvanian presumably because North Carolina now looks like a big McDonalds) there are flaws which detract from its potential classic status.
The foundation of the whole film is the unbreakable bond between the two principal characters which endures despite them being apart for years. Are we supposed to believe that a few mediocre chat-up lines, the odd note and a quick snog are the basis of an enduring love affair? On the battlefield the guy got three letters in four years for Gods sake. Even in a war zone it smacks of extreme desperation. There is precious little to convince any viewer that Inman would walk to the nearest diner let alone half way across the U.S.A for the embrace of his loved one.
<*dv_1*> I also didnt feel Inman was on a journey, more a series of encounters with various characters which either help or hinder his progress to the inevitable climax back at Cold Mountain. There wasnt a sense of him traveling across the country. What drives him? Is it love? Is it fate? Or is it padding? I couldnt possibly say. Jude Law does an earnest enough job but is not helped by films structure which switches back to Cold Mountain when things start to get exciting and prevents any forward momentum.
Hats off to the casting director who ropes in a stellar cast to deliver the odd line here and there. The best showing comes Zellweger whose spunky farmhand Ruby acts Kidman off the screen when they are together. The low point is in the form of Ray Winstone who is equal parts cockney slag and hick law enforcer and proves Dick Van Dyke doesnt have a monopoly on sh*t accents. Donald Sutherland, Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, Natalie Portman and Giovanni Ribisi all contribute to the ensemble performance although removing any one of the characters would barely have affected the story. There is even an acting debut for Jack White from the White Stripes who is to acting what Sting is to music. Solid if unspectacular.
Either take a soppy partner, an elderly relative or a civil war aficionado and you will be quids in. If you can combine all three you really are a saucy devil.
|
