Anna Karenina (2012)

i must have seen a different film!!

Good concept, poorly executed.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Such an extraordinary screenplay! thanks to #tomstoppard one can experience a totally different version of Anna Karenina, a unique version.. yes, the screenplay is not the exact copy of the novel, but it creates its own version not sticking to the original one. however in some parts it might have been better to keep it a little traditional, maybe just to keep that tense darkness of the novel.and #joewright did an excellent job in this movie. that stream which makes you feel like watching a different kind of a musical.. it is really mesmerising !#keiraknightley is absolutely fascinating! the most identifying thing about Anna Karenina is those historical moments and #keiraknightley is really perfect in those scenes..#judelaw is also very good.. however I wish someone else played Vronsky, not because Aaron Taylor johnson is not good at acting, but he is not what novel makes one picture Kont Vronsky in his/her (at least my) mind.And I think #seamusmcgarvey should have won the award for the best achievement in cinematography.. at most of the scenes I felt like stopping and getting a screenshot just to keep that beautiful beautiful picture! that's pure art! Marvelous job!!

Leo Tolstoy's story of a Russian woman torn between a passionate extramarital lover and her comfortable life in a loveless marriage is interestingly turned into a filmed stage play here. If an odd artistic decision, it gives a nice, dreamlike quality to the material as the camera glides, floats and creeps about as the actors walk around stage to change set and location. Dario Marianelli's lively music score also often enlivens the film beyond the stage-bound setting and as workmen move up and down in synchrony, the film almost has the choreography of a big budget musical. No amount of audiovisual pizazz can, however, disguise how melodramatic the tale is in director Joe Wright's hands. The casting of Keira Knightley does not help either as she does little to render her character sympathetic and while Jude Law's subdued approach to playing her husband initially seems like a stroke of genius, his eliciting of few emotions after everything Knightley puts him through never quite feels right. In short, Anna feels less a victim of a repressive society and more of a victim of her own instability and an uncaring husband. As mentioned, the film looks and sounds magnificent enough that the potency of the story is not quite so important, but it is hard not to wonder what may have been here with more attention to characters/performance and less attention to audiovisual splendour.

A generous four. Melodramatic, soapy, cheesy, Disney-lie, saccharine, sentimental tosh. An exercise in excess. Knightley is miscast. She plays the same role she does in most of her films. She is out of place here. The film is somewhat of a reinterpretation of Anna Karenina in that Anna is shown to be a liberated, modern woman living in a ridiculously conservative and old-fashioned society instead of showing her to be the hypocrite that she really is (even in the film).To avoid spoilers, I won't go into specifics, but let's say that her values at the start of the film were the same as everyone else's, she then broke the rules and the film makes her to be the victim of a repressive society. Anna just wants to live her life, live the life, have the cake, eat it, have everything she wants, society, husband, boyfriend, child, family name, money, dresses, balls, dances, waltzes, respect etc. Is that so wrong? What's wrong with Russians? Also casting Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Vronsky is some sort of joke. The only way I see him being in bed with Anna is in a threesome with her husband where he tries to get him to switch teams. The mustache, the hair, the mannerisms, did I say the mustache, really don't work.We are not given any reason why she would fall in love with him or be in love with him. We don't know why he loves her so much. It makes no sense. It's mutual, intense, Romeo-and-Juliet reciprocated love from the first sight between a married woman and a player.The music is also really annoying after a while. Really, really grating.Actually, come to think of it, four is too generous. I'm giving it a three.

You would get this movie. I admit that I am biased because I have always loved the book. And I can't imagine what it might be like for someone who has no experience with the novel. Maybe they would like the story? But I found the change of scenes to really take away from the story line. It was overly artistic and inconveniently distracting. (This being an issue because I love the story so much.) I liked how free and open the outdoor scenes were. And I think the director actually did an honest job covering the story. I agree with the claustrophobic feeling and while I found myself suffering through it, I also wonder if the director wanted us to feel that way- to maybe connect ourselves to Anna's feelings? I hope it was on purpose. It was still horrible to suffer through though. I have to agree that the actor chosen as Vronsky was just a terrible choice. Yikes!! There didn't seem to be any real chemistry at all between them- oddly completely on his side. (Keira knightly seems to have really tried to add some feels- Whatever chemistry that was there was fully carried by her. (He honestly had more chemaitey with his horse. And with his male friends.) Keira knightly probably wasn't the perfect choice either. Although I love her when she is in the right roles for her. She can be wonderful on screen. And maybe if she had had chemistry with vronsky (his fault!) then.... Who knows. But girl to girl... No girl would like Vronsky anyway.. And she had to kiss that tweenager mustache so she is forgiven. For me, the story alone has enough drama to read and reread again and again throughout a persons life. . I wish the art of this movie had been in how well the story was told. And I wish it had been done in a more organic, simple manner. In summation: poorly cast and over worked. The writer and director did an honest job of attempting to keep the integrity of the story. Beautiful costumes. But I wish I had spent the evening steaming Downton Abbey instead of watching this.