Movie Review: Anna Karenina

The third collaboration of Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley with acclaimed director Joe Wright, following the award-winning boxoffice successes “Pride & Prejudice” and “Atonement,” is a bold, theatrical new vision of the epic story of love, adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s timeless novel by Academy Award winner Tom Stoppard (“Shakespeare in Love”). The story powerfully explores the capacity for love that surges through the human heart. As Anna (Ms. Knightley) questions her happiness and marriage, change comes to all around her.

Anna Karenina
Released: 2012
Runtime: 129 mins
Rating: 2/5 stars

REVIEW:
I'm in the Oscars mood lately, so i'm trying to watch some of the nominated for Oscars movies (not all of them for best motion picture). Argo was out of the question because i really don't want to see it so i thought about starting with Anna Karenina.

When i saw a movie from Joe Wright with Keira Knightley i was immediately obsessed. I mean i loved both Atonement and P&P. Unfortunately, Anna Karenina didn't work for me. I have not read the book to compare, so i'm discussing it simple as a movie.

I think the main problem was the setting/directing for the movie. It's not the usual style, instead it uses a theatric version were the walls changing in front of you while the scene is on move, you see the changing of the outfits, in a dancy classy way yes, but still like a theater and stuff like that. The scenes are so small and the whole theatric style didn't really help with the story or the acting. I couldn't get used to it and all i was paying attention was the music, the background and the costumes. As for the actors, i don't really think they had to put so much effort into acting or giving the characters some depth. It was like they were just reading lines.

So yes as you see, it did not work out for me at all. Next we have Les Miserables ;)

Cast: Keira Knightley(Atonement, Pride & Prejudice), Jude Law(Sherlock Holmes), Kelly McDonald (Brave), Matthew McFayden (Pride & Prejudice), Aaron Johnson (Kick Ass), Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense), Susanne Lother, Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey), Eros Vlahos (Nanny McPhee 2), Henry Hughes (Harry Potter)