Peek-a-boo my fine friends, Harry here. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth here, but man... Don't we have a great selection of films to ring out the decade with? I mean yeesh. I saw the trailer for this one earlier this week, before SLEEPY HOLLOW, I believe, and man... I'm such a sucker for Neil Jordan's work. Hopefully... God Willing... After his experience on IN DREAMS, he deserves a good time and pleasant filming experience. Jordan makes films that seem to always hinge on the hallucinatory memories of days gone by. He shoots films as we remember them on hot sweltering days on the mosquito ridden front porch, or on the fogged up side of a windo half covered in frost. As a result... I eagerly await any work that has his name upon it. Here's a look at his latest...
Hey Harry,
What up! I was fortunate enough to catch an advance screening of Neil Jordan's latest, THE END OF THE AFFAIR, with Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, and Stephen Rea. In a word, the film was superb, excellently crafted, engaging, and with a witty script both in the sense of narrative structure and dialogue. I would hope Jordan to recieve an Oscar nod for his adaptation of the Graham Greene novel.
Since the storyline of the film can easily be obtained, I'll spare you the details (and the spoilers).
First and foremost, I must say that Julianne Moore was splendid. I did not enjoy her work in An Ideal Husband, but her turn here as Sarah Miles was lovely. I didn't think she could do a period piece--but she was heartfelt and true, a lovely twist of an accent, and very attentive to details.
There are many twists, flashbacks, and double-takes in the plot; but because the writing is SO SHARP and witty, I was never tired of seeing a scene over again so as to understand a new perspective of the drama.
Fiennes was, per usual, excellent. He plays Maurice Bendrix, a man in love with Sarah Miles despite the fact that she is married to Henry Miles (played sharply by Stephen Rea). Sarah and Maurice have an affair, and all sorts of crazy stuff happens. It's romantic, intrigiuing, suspenseful, mystical--the tone of the film changes dramatically yet it never seems contrived one bit.
It was strange to see Jordan make this type of film. It's not very offbeat, and very very much a period piece in the sense of "Wings of the Dove", very sensual, erotic colors, beautiful yet unsure and suspicious lighting. However, The End of the Affair is much better!
The film is not perfect, and I would not rate it as one of the years top ten films. However, I cannot really think of any qualms I had with the film. It is humorous when it needs to be, mysterious at times, and the pacing is on high--which is rare for a period piece. Maybe I was not expecting such a film from Jordan--it's definitely something you need to see twice. Ironically, I felt the same way about DOGMA this weekend: Smith threw so much unexpected at me that I really could not process it all and make judgement on the film.
The End of the Affiar functions similarly: i was surprised to see Neil Jordan making such a unique and engaging period piece that it was almost too much to comprehend to place a judgement.
Needless to say, this is a great film. I am interested to see the critical response. At the conclusion of the screening, there was a tremendous amount of applause (it wasn't a critic screening), which is rare these days--yet not too rare for the holiday season.
Ultimately, it is a must see--put it on your lists my friends!
*** stars
Thanks,
Stig Helmer
