Film No.80 (2014) November 26th. 6:30 PM VMAX Innaloo.
Serena
Serena offers so much. A cast of Hollywood A listers, sumptuous costumes and sets, a screenplay based on a best selling novel and arguably the best Danish director currently working. Perhaps, as William Goldman outlined in Adventures in the Screen Trade, there is no such thing as a sure thing because Serena is a flop. Unfortunately, echoes of things to come could be heard early in the screening I attended. We laughed when we really should have been moved or shocked.
Serena (Jennifer Lawrence) marries George Pemberton (Brad Cooper)because he asks her, in their first meeting, with the second sentence he utters to her. In the next five minutes of screen time we are asked to be convinced of a special love they have for one another based on some vigorous horse riding and sensuous lovemaking. With all of that done they are soon on a train to George's timber cutting empire in North Carolina. All of this narrative is fed to us in 10 minutes.
Next we are presented with a few cliched scenes depicting Serena as one tough lady who knows her timber and needs to be respected by George's workforce. Meanwhile she becomes pregnant but not before she has paid close attention to an ex-servant of Georges who is the mother of a boy he fathered before they were married. And so it goes, she has complications during child birth etc etc.
My previous paragraphs are written slightly offhandedly, I apologize for that. It is a spin off of the manner in which the film presented itself to me. We are never attached emotionally to the characters or their emotional plights. There are however some picture postcard settings. If that is your thing then go see Serena. 3GUMS
Serena (Jennifer Lawrence) marries George Pemberton (Brad Cooper)because he asks her, in their first meeting, with the second sentence he utters to her. In the next five minutes of screen time we are asked to be convinced of a special love they have for one another based on some vigorous horse riding and sensuous lovemaking. With all of that done they are soon on a train to George's timber cutting empire in North Carolina. All of this narrative is fed to us in 10 minutes.
Next we are presented with a few cliched scenes depicting Serena as one tough lady who knows her timber and needs to be respected by George's workforce. Meanwhile she becomes pregnant but not before she has paid close attention to an ex-servant of Georges who is the mother of a boy he fathered before they were married. And so it goes, she has complications during child birth etc etc.
My previous paragraphs are written slightly offhandedly, I apologize for that. It is a spin off of the manner in which the film presented itself to me. We are never attached emotionally to the characters or their emotional plights. There are however some picture postcard settings. If that is your thing then go see Serena. 3GUMS
Thanks for the heads up Chris won't bother. Would rather no gums than 3 gums. Michelle
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