Movies watched recently 11

The Painted Veil: This is a beautiful romance with excellent acting and gorgeous images. The screenplay is good, realistically portraying the relationship between a young couple and their development as people. The setting is also superbly developed, exploring chinese society subtly and intelligently. Its flaws are that the dialog could have been a bit less pompous in some scenes (but it's mostly fine) and the ending scene wasn't needed. The acting is immensely powerful. Naomi Watts left me in awe: she embodied the character in all little details, creating a real person with nuances. Edward Norton was also good, with some brilliant scenes and always convincing: they have a brilliant chemistry between them. The supporting actors are also good. The direction captures beautiful images and allows the characters to develop. The cinematography is inspiring: the color is vivid and beautiful, and it absorbs you. The soundtrack is very beautiful, completing the movie without being intrusive. Overall, this is a movie I'd recommend.


The House Of Mirth: I thought this was a very boring movie, with a good leading performance. The screenplay is clichéd and doesn't fully develop, with disinteresting characters and bad dialog. The basic story line is fine, but the pace ruins it. The acting is mediocre by everyone except Gillian Anderson, who gives her clichéd character life and feelings, using great body language and edgy delivery of dialog. She makes this not a total waste of time. The direction is unremarkable, and the technicals are genuinely bad. The cinematography makes this look cheap, the editing is not swift and doesn't allow supporting characters to develop, spending time repeating the same things. The (almost) lack of soundtrack doesn't fit here. Overall, this is not worth-watching.

Les Invasions Barbares: This is a good, though flawed movie about Canadian society. The screenplay has some very good dialog but the storyline is too static, as the relationships between characters never really develop. Rémy Girard was excellent, with funny delivery and convincing emotions, but Stéphane Rousseau isn't believable. The supporting cast is unremarkable. The direction is quite good: the beginning is absorbingly well-done and there are some really beautiful shots. The technicals are fine but ordinary. This succeeds at portraying a fragile society and intellectuals, but not at showing human relationships.