Vanity Fair

[El Duderino]

Release Date: September 1, 2004
Director: Mira Nair
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, James Purefoy, Aileen Atkins, Jim Broadbent, Gabriel Byrne

Trailer Here



looks alright, it's focus features...that's a plus

[Stefen]

I'm tired of movies based on magazines and comics.

[Ghostboy]

What's next, Variety the movie? FHM?

Seriously, though, it'll be interesting to see another Thackeray novel brought to the screen, and I'll see anything Mira Nair does. Monsoon Wedding enraptured me.

[matt35mm]

Dude I'd totally watch FHM: The Movie.  

[cron]

I'm tired of movies based on magazines and comics.

This comes from , Stefen, a guy who suscribes to Pompous Ass?

Na-ah,  I don't think so, compadre.

[Ghostboy]

This movie never came to life for me. Other than the emphasis on Indian influence on the West at the time, there's little to suggest that this is a Mira Nair filmm, and I wish I could recognize her mark via a passion in the material, rather than cultural signposts. Given the subject matter and the author, I was expecting something much sharper and perhaps even funnier, but it gets the lush period drama treatment, and, worse, the turgid we-want-a-best-adapted-screenplay-Oscar treatment. It moves from scene to scene with very little impetus, and rather than coming to a rightful ending, it just stops. It looks beautiful, the performances all range from very good to outstanding, and Reese Witherspoon is utterly enchanting, never so much as when she sings (those scenes are the reasons to see the film).

I noted a new trend while watching it: Indian directors going from a terrific indie hit to a big budget early 19th Century drama. Witness: Shekar Kapur. A flipside of cultural responsibility, perhaps?

[grand theft sparrow]

This movie never came to life for me. Other than the emphasis on Indian influence on the West at the time, there's little to suggest that this is a Mira Nair filmm, and I wish I could recognize her mark via a passion in the material, rather than cultural signposts. Given the subject matter and the author, I was expecting something much sharper and perhaps even funnier, but it gets the lush period drama treatment, and, worse, the turgid we-want-a-best-adapted-screenplay-Oscar treatment. It moves from scene to scene with very little impetus, and rather than coming to a rightful ending, it just stops. It looks beautiful, the performances all range from very good to outstanding, and Reese Witherspoon is utterly enchanting, never so much as when she sings (those scenes are the reasons to see the film).

I noted a new trend while watching it: Indian directors going from a terrific indie hit to a big budget early 19th Century drama. Witness: Shekar Kapur. A flipside of cultural responsibility, perhaps?

(By the way, thanks for checking out my blog.)

I'm glad someone felt the same way about the ending that I did.  The dialogue was tight but you could tell that they were squishing a 900 page book into a 2 hour + movie.  But it was visually pants-wetting and Reese is redeemed for all the "sell out" crap she did after Election.  I would say she deserves an Oscar for it but I think that that would justify her starring in unchallenging (no pun intended) vanity projects for the next 30 years.

And as far as Mira Nair goes, the Indian-tinged scenes did pop a lot more than anything else but there seems to be only one way to shoot period pieces about British royalty and/or high society, so I don't hold her entirely responsible for the lack of her vibe.  In any event, I'm looking forward to her (hopefully) directing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.