|
|
|
|
Poetry is my most inflammable
way of expressing emotional sprague, so most films that deal with any sort of
literary expressive are ones that I can relate in some factor to. This may explain
my very complimentary review of, for the most part, critically panned Total
Eclipse and my sentiments for Il Postino when it was nominated over
the outstanding Leaving Las Vegas for 1995's Best Picture Oscar. So,
sure, I'm biased, but I'm not about to be stripped of my integrity. A Merry
War is an embarrassment for George Orwell, the author of Keep the Aspidistra
Flying, of which the film was based on. To do a book justice one might consider
giving some sort of drive, or even some sort of laughter - but this film, labeled
under the genre of "comedy", is laughless and it's English humor,
folks, but even as that it's a dead pan of scarce dialogue that misnotes most
of its key scenes that could have abrasively captured the audience into a fizzle
of glee.
But let's not get too worked up, A Merry War still has some high comforts - there's the exotic and sophisticated Helena Bonham Carter, who seems to bring presence to most all characters in a period drama and Richard E. Grant helps the film out by purring and sputtering the dialogue he can from the plagiarized script by Alan Plater (who should be banned from all copy machines - the script probably still has the book's page numbers). Grant is Comstock, a high paid writer who decides to delve into poverty by keeping a whim note on poetry. Enter his fiancee, enter some tiffs, enter some teriffic narrative exchanges. But he's erratic and takes on a highly immature stanza with any money in his mailbox, and begins to live in a fantasy land where his bitter self righteousness becomes his distasteful plea on life; turning to himself becomes his most fashionable regard.
The story never travels, in fact it hits the border and is demanded to be thoroughly run over - because without any inticing audience capture it stays equipped, heavy-handed mind you, only with its actors who can survive it for only half the journey.
A
journey that hits breaking point way too soon, and a story that stays
banal right up to its wishful end. Starring Richard E. Grant, Helena
Bonham Carter. Dir: Robert Bierman