Armand
a beautiful touching film. for the exploration of nuances. for the impressive images. for the story who mix different slices of life. for courage because it is picture of a cruel system. for the love story who is more complex than only feelings or emotions. for the high performances of actors. and for the taste after its end. a film about the clash of a young man and rules of an empire. and the discover of a world and the sins of his empire. right tone, delicate trip. and the transformation as result of knowledge of new universe real sense. a cruel and seductive movie. useful for remember the past. necessary for rediscover the poetry of small basic things and events.
leplatypus
Yes, it's true that it was Jessica Alba who leads me to this movie, because without her, I should have never pick it.But, I find it long, dull and above all, unoriginal. All along, I thought that the story was full of clichés and the directing very boring. So it was a surprise to see that the director and writer are the one and same person. I take notice to remember to avoid all his next movies.It's a pity because all good things were at hand: Malaysia is a beautiful jungle, it was the British Empire and the cast is wonderful: Jessica knows how to open her soul and for one time, she has found an appropriate movie for this. Bob Hoskins shows a great experience and he should have won an award for this role.The only positive thing is that it makes me open a world-map to locate this island because if you guess it happens in south Asia, you don't know where exactly! Ah, the little plane flight with red lines in the Indiana Jones movie!!!
couching_tiger_eatin_popcorn
The positives: It's shot pretty well. Has some interesting peripheral characters. Likable main character (albeit weak).The bad: Plot/story. Editing. Characters wasted. Jessica Alba.I'm a fan of sappy movies, but this movie is cringe-inducingly bad. I don't understand how anyone can hand over $12M to this Guy Jenkin. And before I go any further, I just want to say that I don't dislike Jessica Alba--I really wanted to like her in this film. However, Jessica Alba in her fake accent and her model poses made me miserable. She has absolutely no screen presence in this movie, and she ruins every scene she's in. Needless to say, the romance does not come off as believable(not even a tiny bit).All I saw throughout was the actors flapping their wings, trying to get this thing off the ground with what little they were given--but sadly, all this movie does is sink. There is no emotional connection, no emotional conflict, and nothing is gained. It's a pretty empty movie.
pacieterra-1
For whatever reasons this film was not released and went to video,it is truly unfortunate. It is exquisitely photographed in Malaysia, (perhaps, its true setting of Sarawak, not mentioned in the final credits). Jessica Alba has the performance of her career, a beautiful and sensitive South Asian portrayal, that belies her Hispanic heritage. Hugh Dancy covers the young, clueless, British administrator who develops insights into his rain forest charges and their traditional beliefs. Jude Law would have been perfect for the role, if bigger star power was warranted. This coming-of-age story moves very slowly in the beginning,in order to set-up the various relationships and conflicts, but blossoms fully into a true romance, fraught with secrets, dangers, and concessions demanded of many of the characters. It is a wonderful film that fully satisfies the time invested.
AD
