Let’s get one thing straight: Keira Knightley has it all. She’s a damn fine actress, she’s got the pretty in spades, she can sing and she can quite literally light up the screen – as she does in the opening scene of her latest film, The Edge of Love, based on the life of Dylan Thomas. I submit that if Scarlett Johansson is this generation’s more intellectual Marilyn Monroe, than Knightley is our more sensual Audrey Hepburn (if you think that’s crazy, consider that Kinghtley is slated to play the lead in a new version of My Fair Lady). Just like Hepburn, even if the material isn’t all it should be, she still manages to shine.
Alas, sub-par material is the case in Edge. Being billed as the “next Atonement” – it isn’t – is setting the bar pretty high, and the movie doesn’t quite make it. I place less blame on the actors - Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys – and more on the writer and director.
The main hang-up is that the movie never gets a strong foothold on what the story is, which causes the same problem for the audience. I felt like the director John Maybury couldn’t quite decide if he wanted to tell the story of Welsh poet Thomas, or the women who loved him, and so instead he tried to do both, without pulling either off. The film felt directionless and meandering, which is okay when you have such pretty images to look at – not just the actors, but the beautiful cinematography – but it holds a movie back from having any lasting impact. Personally, I was more interested in the women who loved him than Thomas himself (that may be because I don’t know much about him, and the fact that out four, Rhys’ performance was the most lackluster), but just picking a story to tell and running with it would have grounded the movie. Its like they were trying to make a more serious Shakespeare in Love, but couldn’t decide on what to focus on – the man or the love.
As for the acting, there was a lot that was glossed over, or just not conveyed. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what would make Rhys’ callous, uncharming Thomas so irresistible to Miller’s Caitlin and Knightley’s Vera. It couldn’t have just been that he was a poet, but I never saw what it was. Miller’s acting was fine as Thomas’ lose canon of a wife, but a glimpse into her more vulnerable side would have done a lot in the way of creating empathy. Despite the shady character build up, I was still surprised by Thomas’ sudden turn into utter douche-baggery near the film’s end, which seemed to me out of left field.
Murphy as William, a WWII “hero” does an admirable job, even if it’s odd seeing him in a not so creepy role, and he and Knightley play well together, but there wasn’t enough of them to really sell it for me. Blame that on the film’s lack of focus.
To be honest, though, this is totally Knightley’s show, and while the performance certainly isn’t flawless (her Welsh accent comes and goes and we never see the moment where she really falls for Williams) she’s got the fire that keeps the film burning, even if it’s a slow burn.
Just like falling in love, its not enough to just go to the edge, but you have to commit and jump. The Edge of Love does just what it says: gets to the edge, but can’t quite make that final leap.
Alas, sub-par material is the case in Edge. Being billed as the “next Atonement” – it isn’t – is setting the bar pretty high, and the movie doesn’t quite make it. I place less blame on the actors - Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys – and more on the writer and director.
The main hang-up is that the movie never gets a strong foothold on what the story is, which causes the same problem for the audience. I felt like the director John Maybury couldn’t quite decide if he wanted to tell the story of Welsh poet Thomas, or the women who loved him, and so instead he tried to do both, without pulling either off. The film felt directionless and meandering, which is okay when you have such pretty images to look at – not just the actors, but the beautiful cinematography – but it holds a movie back from having any lasting impact. Personally, I was more interested in the women who loved him than Thomas himself (that may be because I don’t know much about him, and the fact that out four, Rhys’ performance was the most lackluster), but just picking a story to tell and running with it would have grounded the movie. Its like they were trying to make a more serious Shakespeare in Love, but couldn’t decide on what to focus on – the man or the love.
As for the acting, there was a lot that was glossed over, or just not conveyed. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what would make Rhys’ callous, uncharming Thomas so irresistible to Miller’s Caitlin and Knightley’s Vera. It couldn’t have just been that he was a poet, but I never saw what it was. Miller’s acting was fine as Thomas’ lose canon of a wife, but a glimpse into her more vulnerable side would have done a lot in the way of creating empathy. Despite the shady character build up, I was still surprised by Thomas’ sudden turn into utter douche-baggery near the film’s end, which seemed to me out of left field.
Murphy as William, a WWII “hero” does an admirable job, even if it’s odd seeing him in a not so creepy role, and he and Knightley play well together, but there wasn’t enough of them to really sell it for me. Blame that on the film’s lack of focus.
To be honest, though, this is totally Knightley’s show, and while the performance certainly isn’t flawless (her Welsh accent comes and goes and we never see the moment where she really falls for Williams) she’s got the fire that keeps the film burning, even if it’s a slow burn.
Just like falling in love, its not enough to just go to the edge, but you have to commit and jump. The Edge of Love does just what it says: gets to the edge, but can’t quite make that final leap.
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