Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
This is another one of these articles where I’m going to give you as many varied reactions to a film in one fell swoop as I can so you can make up your own mind what you think of ‘em all.
Fabfunk, for example, also reviewed BIG FISH for us today, so let’s see what he thought of this:
And then there’s COLD MOUNTAIN. Through something of a fluke, I ended up with two chances to see this film for free on consecutive days. I’m writing this after the first screening, and I’m telling you I can’t wait for tomorrow. COLD MOUNTAIN is a five star movie, through and through.
For those unfamiliar with the plot, Jude Law is Inman, a grunt worker who falls for the minister’s daughter, Ada (Nicole Kidman). However, the Civil War is starting, and Inman must go to battle, despite only sharing a long, tender makeout session with Ada. It is then when things go to hell for both parties, with many casualties on both sides.
The story is told in a non-linear fashion, with many flashbacks early on in which we see Inman and Ada falling for each other, but the movie begins on the battlefield, and boy does this first battle rock. The massive battle that kickstarts everything in COLD MOUNTAIN is probably the best onscreen battle since GLADIATOR, and it doesn’t let up until they’re stacking up bodies like dominoes.
Ada waits for Inman to come back, managing her dilapidated farm, first with her father, and then with Ruby Thewes (Renee Zellweger), a hot to trot fixer-upper. Zellweger will probably receive a lot of attention, because her role is very showy, rambunctious and such, and provides much of the comic relief.
And the cast is freakin’ ridiculous. You’ve got the three leads, and then Anthony Minghella pretty much recruited the rest of Hollywood to play every character Ada and Inman bump into. There’s the drunken, philandering priest played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, the nutball played by nutball expert Giovanni Ribisi, the lonely widow played by Natalie Portman (no boobs shot, friends, sorry), the villainous horsemen played by Ray Winstone and Charlie Hunnam (unrecognizable as the bloke from NICHOLAS NICKELBY, here done up as an albino who does crazy ninja backflips), Brendan Gleeson as Ruby’s father Stobrod, Kathy Baker as a local friend of Ada’s, Donald Sutherland as Ada’s father, Melora Walters (MAGNOLIA) as a flirt looking for some action with Inman, Ethan Suplee as his specialty role, fatass dumbshit (although he does it well) and Jack White of the White Stripes (who worked on the fantastic soundtrack, more on that later). The film even features blink and you’ll miss them appearances by Jena Malone, Lucas Black, Emily Deschanel, Boomkat Taryn Manning, and even, hey, is that Cillian Murphy??
This is a really beautiful movie, nicely shot by Minghella, who’s used to broad, epic palettes. The cinematography is aided by a wonderfully luscious score by Gabriel Yared peppered with some folk songs from T-Bone Burnett and Jack White that really add authenticity to the proceedings. I’d say this is a nice step up from Minghella’s previous sweeping romantic epic THE ENGLISH PATIENT (unless you wanna say THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY is a romance). While PATIENT’s romance was a dud, COLD MOUNTAIN is hella hot: there is one sex scene between Jude Law and Nicole Kidman that’s a feast for the men and the women. It’s the hottest thing you’ll see all year.
COLD MOUNTAIN will be one of those movies people flippantly remark about being uninteresting, pretty and well done but not emotionally affecting. Well, I beg to differ. COLD MOUNTAIN is the story of two journeys, and it’s the tale of a romance that never dies. While it is a very romantic tale that will attract many females, for the guys, I gotta say, Jude Law kicks mega ass in this. He’s a real badass, and I can’t wait to see footage of THE WORLD OF TOMORROW to validate those thoughts. His grave stare is pretty imposing coming from a guy that really isn’t Arnold-built. This is the one movie to go to if ROTK sells out.
I am fabfunk, and I have spoken.
Wow. Strong words. Minghella’s certainly capable of such a film, but this trailer leaves me feeling nothing. In particular, I hate Zellweger’s line about “Men who make the rain and say it’s raining stand in the rain when it’s raining and complain about the rain! And it’s raining!” Whatever. Maybe dolphin here likes it wet, though...
You may call me dolphin
I just saw an advance screening of Cold Mountain here at the University of Maryland. I must first admit that Cold Mountain isn't in the genre of film that I am most inclined to watch. You're more likely to find me watching a John Woo or Tony Scott flick. With that said, I am proudly endorsing this film to all who want to see great acting and wonderful storytelling. The film stars, of course, Nicole Kidman(Ada) and Jude Law(Inman) who really shine in this film set during the Civil War. I can't believe it's taken this long for them to work together...let's hope this isn't the last. Inman catches the eye of Ada and before you know he's.....plowing her field. *haha...gotcha there* There's a bit of flirtation here and there but not much before Inman sets off to join the army. Yes, that's right the war reaches North Carolina where Cold Mountain is located and Inman sets off to join the Confederacy. He performs heroically but gets injured during a special operation. His love for Ada, who he barely knows (it's Nicole Kidman so I understand) leads to his desertion, a deed punishable by death. Their brief tryst affects Ada just as strongly as she writes over a 100 letters to Inman, only a few actually get to him.
Most of the film cuts back in forth between Inman on his journey through the countryside to North Carolina and Ada coping with an estate that is literally crumbling before her eyes. When her father dies she is left to fend on her own. She almost starves to death trying to survive as she was too upper crust to learn how to take care of herself. The best part of the film is when he returns home. Remember, they barely knew each other and are even more unaware that their feelings for each other are in fact mutual. So, when Ada sees Inman walking towards her she doesn't scream and cry in shock/surprise/elation after thinking about him for four straight years...she has a muted reaction that works. He also is unsure, he loves her but does she love him the same way? That was my favorite part of the film. Also, appearing in the film is the seem! ingly omnipresent Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a wayward reverend. He provides some comic relief which is welcome as the film tended to drag a bit. Renee Zellweger's character should have been cut drastically. Maybe it's just me but that pout is very annoying. I must admit that she grew on me towards the end of the film but her interpretation of her character was grating. Overall I'd give the film a B+. Oscar material? Perhaps for Jude Law's character, maybe Kidman's. Best Movie or Director? A nomination yes but it's not a slam dunk. It's a good date movie and while I do recommend Cold Mountain don't expect a film worthy of the Oscar buzz surrounding it.
Huh. Who else has something to add?
Hi, Harry. As they say on the radio "Long-time listener, first-time caller."
I just thought I'd drop in my two cents about COLD MOUNTAIN, as the movie seems to be getting some distressingly positive early buzz that I'd like to rectify. I saw the film last night at a screening in Beverly Hills and, without being too much of a killjoy, it's simply another one of those Oscar-baiting wannabe epics that Miramax seem to specialize in these days.
Sadly, it's more FOUR FEATHERS than it is ENGLISH PATIENT, which is curious considering that Anthony Minghella was the director. Then again, in my opinion he also butchered Highsmith's classic TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, so maybe it's not surprising that I found COLD MOUNTAIN slow, ponderous and superficial, the kind of film where many will be easily lulled into thinking it's great because a lot of award-winning talent is associated with it, and because there are a lot of sweeping overhead shots of the beautiful countryside. But in reality it's flatulent, self-important, good-looking nonsense. But then so was a film like GLADIATOR, and we all know what a commercial and award bust that turned out to be.
Anyway, as you probably know, COLD MOUNTAIN is the long - very long - story about a Confederate soldier (Jude Law) who goes off to fight against the Yankees, after having a brief though intense fling with minister's daughter Nicole Kidman. Well, it barely counts as a fling, as they only kiss once and say a couple of words to each other. But it's meant to be enough for both Jude and Nicole to spend the next four years enduring contant Civil War hardship in the hope of being reunited.
At a certain point, after getting bored with fighting and being left for dead about a dozen times, Jude decides he's had enough and decides to start walking home, back to Nicole. This is a long - very long - walk indeed, and about a quarter of the film's immense running time must consist of Jude stumbling through the countryside, looking at everything with his haunted, intense, beautiful eyes.
Now, don't get me wrong, I really like Jude Law. He was the only bright light in both "RIPLEY" and that piece of Kubrick-defiling crap known as "A.I." But here, in Minghella's script (I have not read the book), there simply is no character for him to work with. He's meant to be a soft-spoken, decent man ravaged by the hells of war, but he seems more like a really good-looking actor shuffling around purposelessly, beseeching his director to spend more time guiding his performance rather than lighting his face. It actually makes perfect sense that Tom Cruise was meant to be play this role at one time: it's all surface, no depth.
The film soon settles down into a predictable pattern: cross-cutting between Jude's Odyssey-like wanderings through the country, and Nicole sitting around at home waiting for him, writing long - very long - letters.
Neither strand of the story is particularly interesting. At least some of Jude's adventures are more engrossing than others. There is one scene with Natalie Portman that actually fulfills the epic intentions of the film. I don't want to give it away, but it's the only instance in the entire move where an actor (in this case, Portman) is able to suggest that one of these stock characters might actually have some hidden depths. Somebody please give this girl a proper lead role that can finally show off her immense talents. And, no, nothing associated with George Satan Lucas counts.
Anyway, Jude's long - very long - journey continues, and he runs into a veritable Who's Who of Hollywood along the way: aside from Portman, he also gets to hang out with Giovanni Ribisi, Cillian Murphy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jena Malone (I hope she had a nice vacation in Romania, because I don't see how her 10 seconds of screen time justifies her casting) and many others. Eventually, he makes it home and just happens to run conveniently into Nicole on a snow-covered hill.
Nicole is rather pleased to see him. Not only because she's been waiting for some action for a long – very long - time, but also because she's had to spend the majority of her waking moments with Renee Zelweger, whose facial tics and loud slurred speech add up to the most annoying performance of the year (in other words, warm up those Best Supporting Actress statues).
Renee is ostensibly this simpleton sent to Nicole's farm to help her with the, er, farming (they grow things together, and read each other WUTHERING HEIGHTS, and build fences...yes, truly riveting stuff...I'm so glad there was so much of it) but of course she also teaches Nicole to be strong, and keep hope alive, and all that kind of Oscar-worthy stuff. They also both get to hang out with lots of semi-famous Hollywood faces (Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone, Charlie Hunnam, Kathy Bates, Brendan Gleeson and, er, Jack White, who seems to have been inserted by Minghella to sing some totally beautiful old folk songs and add a tiny bit of authenticity to this faux-epic trash).
So Jude and Nicole reunite but of course it all ends in a big tragedy and lots of tears and renewed hope. Wow, I'm boring myself writing this.
COLD MOUNTAIN wouldn't get me so riled up normally. I mean, I actually stayed in the theater through the long - very long - running time. There are some effective scenes, especially the violent ones involving a focused, evil Winstone and a creepy albino Hunnam. But there's such a stench of bloated self-importance running through this movie that I have to protest in the humble form of this review.
This movie got my goat. The pompous score. The endless length. The constant voiceover expressing Hallmark-esque sentiment. The shallow characterizations, which either tend to be flat (Jude) or way overplayed (Renee). The enormous cost. The beautiful people pretending to be gritty because they have a bit of dirt under their fingernails (although there is a hot, tender sex scene between Jude and Nicole which, in one quick shot, may have revealed a little more of Mrs. Kravitz than intended).
Worst of all is the way that Minghella seems to love showing off each one of his celebrity cameos, by constantly introducing them with their backs to the camera, letting them begin speaking and then - ta da! - revealing that it's another big CAA client. I mean, why not cast the film with lesser-known actors? It's certainly cheaper, it would give jobs to talented, out-of-work thesps (we don't need YET another Phillip Seymour Hoffman 'scene-stealing' cameo) and it would have lessened the distraction of seeing famous people pop in every scene and then promptly disappear.
In other words, this movie sucks. Most people will love it. They'll think it's a glorious return to old-fashioned epic moviemaking. Your mom will probably cry at some point. And, damn, Nicole and Jude are hot. Really really hot. But their beauty is not the only thing in this film that's skin deep.
- Bob.
Youch. Films like this either suck you in or they don’t, and it’s always interesting to me to see how passionate one person can get, and how utterly bored someone else can be. Like check this out... does this next guy sound like he even saw the same film as the guy above?
Hey Harry,
I sent in a few reviews a couple of years ago, but haven't been compelled as of late - that is until now.
I know that you have posted quite a few reviews of Cold Mountain already - but I don't think that any of them has yet done justice to with breaktaking film. Maybe my perspective is different cause I'm a girl, or maybe these people just weren't paying attention - cause what I say is a film that will easily compete with Return of the King as the greatest film of 2003.
I think the key to what makes this film work is the imtimacy of this story set with a large background, as opposed to a love story overwhelmed by the size of the film. As the other reviews have noted, early on we see flashbacks to before the war and literally see every moment Ada (Nicole Kidman) and Inman (Jude Law) spend together. But it's enough. Neither of the characters are big talkers which makes this time so much more then it actually is. You can see a bond forming. He leaves for the war with the idea that he will come back in a month, and then they will really get to know eachother. So as months turn into years the anticipation builds and both characters yearning for the end of the war is conected with the idea of retrieving that one kiss. Ada and Inman know that it's ridiculous to pine over someone they know so little, but it's all that they have.
Anyway, that rant is over. The war has gone on for three years and Inman has managed to survive. He's clearly disillusioned with the war when he gets shot in the neck. In the hospital recovering, a nurse reads him a year old letter from Ada that says to stop what he's doing and come back to her. Since he is currently laying on a bed he stops doing that and escapes out the window. This is a very risky move as the South has now pretty much lost the war and they seem more concerned with shooting deserters. So Inman's hero's journey begins.
Back at the farm, Ada has let the slaves go and her father dies. So she is alone with her thoughts and very little food. Eventually help comes along in the form of Ruby (Renee Zellweger), the comic relief on this end of the story (Philip Syemour Hoffman as a wicked minister being that in Inman's story). As she works the farm with Ruby, Ada finally opens up as a woman and learns to do something besides look pretty and play the piano.
Inman encounters a cornacopia of characters on his way back to Cold Mountain, as in any hero's journey, from the Odessey to Sullivan's Travels. The unique thing is that they have all been terribly affected by the war. As Anthony Minghella said in a Q&A after the film, this was a war that literally affected every household.
Standouts include, Philip Seymour Hoffman's nuaghty minister - who has some hilarous speeched about his bowel movements. Natalie Portman does the best work of her career as a lonely young widow. Giovanni Ribisi turns in another one of his great little comedic performances as a enterprising con artist. And Eileen Atkins as an old mountain woman fills the resting period of Inman's story.
Back at the farm Ruby's Father (the great Brendan Gleeson) shows up along with his band of musicians Ethan Suplee and Jack White (I'm a HUGE White Stripes fan, so don't even get me started).
That's about as far as I think I'll go plot-wise. One of the greatest things Anthony Minghella does in this film is give all these other characters time, attention and depth while keeping the movie about Ada and Inman. You really want them to find eachother. Somehow, it seems like that will make something right.
I almost forgot Kathy Baker who is just heartbreakingly wonderful in the film. And Charlie Hunnam who turns his good looks and turns them inside out to create a truly devilish character.
The Q&A after the film had Anthony Minghella, John Seale (the cinematographer) and Dante Ferreti (the best Production Designer in the whole wide world). Nothing particularily worth mentioning in the session, except the retarded 'who did the war affect you making a war film' question the guy opened with. And Dante Ferreti said he had finished the Aviator and John Seale said he was working on James Brooks new film.
It's worth mentioning that techincally the film is superb without drawing attention to the seams. The costumes were clothes, the sets were real houses and the cinematography told the story, not the cinematographer mastrobating on the screen. The editing was as it should be - invisible - so these things help you disappear into the story.
It's hard not to think of that other great Civil War love story when talking about this film. And while I certainly don't think this film will be held up there with Gone with the Wind, it's definitely a modern film in the same tradition. It should be interesting to see it showdown with Return of the King at the Oscars.
Evelyn Mulwrey
Oh. Evelyn. Well, I didn’t literally mean “guy.” I just meant... this next reviewer... you know. Anyway... I like Minghella, and I plan to check this one out as soon as I can.
"Moriarty" out.
