Hey folks, Harry here with The Amber Spyglass' look at another sure fire Awards time sorta flick, Stephen Daldry's THE READER with Kate "god I love this woman" Winslet and Ralph "one charming bastard" Fiennes! There's a bit of spoiler ahead, but this is more the sort of film that is in the performances... This review will just make you want to see it. I saw MILK today, but am told I can't review it for weeks... but if I could, I'd rave like a maniac after a sexually active Teenager.
Hey again. I’ve written a couple reviews for your site, the most recent one being Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire.” I just got back from a screening of the Kate Winslet/Ralph Fiennes film “The Reader.” It screened at the City Center 15 in White Plains, NY. Afterwards the audience was asked to take a survey for demographic purposes. Let me just say right off the bat, I wasn’t familiar at all with Stephen Daldry’s work. He directed “The Hours” and “Billy Elliot” and I didn’t see either of them. That being said, I think he did an extremely good job with this movie. Granted, that’s not very hard when you have the likes of Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes at your disposal, as well as when newcomer David Kross puts in a very believable performance. For a quick overview, “The Reader” takes place mostly in Germany between the years 1958 and 1995. Kate Winslet and David Kross’s character begin a very unlikely affair that lasts for about three months. Winslet’s character is between 15-20 years older than cross who is only 15. One day Winslet’s character takes off and leaves, without a note or goodbye, leaving Kross to sulk. Pick up eight years later with Kross in law school, he crosses paths with Winslet in an interesting, thought provoking twist. Kate Winslet fucking owns this role. She will most likely garner another Academy Award nomination for this or her other movie “Revolutionary Road” (which I’ve heard she owns that role as well). I don’t know if they’ll push her for Best Supporting Actress for this role, but either way she was incredible. But with 5 Oscar noms already under her belt, it’s hardly news that she’s a great actress. She plays Hanna Schmitz, a German illiterate who works collecting tokens on the tram. I’d prefer not to spoil too much about her role for anyone that hates spoilers, but she disappears into the role of Hanna. Her love affair with Michael (David Kross) seems legitimate and not forced in anyway. As the movie continues we learn more and more about Hanna, but what’s great about what we learn about her is that Daldry doesn’t take the audience as idiots. He gently lays out the rest of the movie for you without jumping the gun and forcing the answers down your throat. The topic of the movie to some will seem very controversial (hint: takes place in 1958 Germany…after the Holocaust). But I think the way the writers and Daldry approached the subject is refreshing. The movie is based on a fictional book that looks at the Holocaust in a new light, and doesn’t so much separate good and wrong, but looks at the decisions we make and why we make them, and under what circumstances we make those decisions. I stuck around after the movie for a focus group interview and each person had a different idea as to why Hanna and Michael acted the way they did. It’s very refreshing when people have different opinions on movies, and not everyone walks out with the same thing on their mind. David Kross is on Kate Winslet’s level in this movie. He is very believable as a young boy who has found love in an older woman. When you see his pain on screen you genuinely feel bad for him because he is only 15 years old, he’s young and is still very immature. On the flip side, when you see him with Hanna in a good mood you really see how Hanna affects his life. How he lives for her, day in and day out. And when she just takes off, it kills him, and he never really gets over it. Overall I’d give this movie a “Very Good” rating (4-4.5 out of 5 stars). The acting from top to bottom was very good, with notable standouts being Winslet, Kross, Fiennes and Lena Olin. Small disclaimer: there’s a bunch of nudity in this film, most of it coming with Winslet. I didn’t mind that at all because I think she’s gorgeous. The love scenes where she’s nude, Kross is also nude, which definitely helps the validity of the chemistry between the two, but I also didn’t really need to see Kross nude. But not a huge deal. Check out this movie if you’re a Kate Winslet fan or just a fan of good movies. -The Amber Spyglass
