| Cold Mountain İreel-reviews.net Rated R Running time 155 minutes Written and directed by Anthony Minghella. Based on the book by Charles Frazier Starring: Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Renee Zellweger, Kathy Baker, James Gammon, Ray Winstone, Donald Sutherland, Natalie Portman Cold Mountain is getting highest praise early on in the award season, sweeping the nominations (at least) before the piper has even played. At first glance it appears to be receiving unabashedly glowing reviews from one and all, but look carefully. Many critics are praising the performances, many the film as a whole, but few are failing to recognize that it is, indeed, a flawed film in many ways. As such it's rather surprising to see it getting so much award season buzz. The film, which is an adaptation of the Charles Frazier novel by Anthony Minghella, labors heavily under the weight of its opening half hour. Earliest scenes, while perhaps difficult to script and streamline in a film that clocks in at a meaty 155 minutes, are stiff and lack cohesion. There is an unevenness that distracts, discomforts, and disturbs. The romance begins too abruptly. The dialogue is stilted and awkward. Law and Kidman, while turning in very good performances, flounder in search of solid ground, slipping about on a soggy and insubstantial script until the second act. The horrors of war, while clearly pertinent to the spirit of the film, seem somehow out of place with the rest of the journey. It's obvious we needed to see some of this in order to follow Inman's plight. What is missing is the connective tissue that would thread all of it together as one tale. The result is a movie in two very distinct and disconnected parts: one addressing the horrors of war, the other the power of love surviving the strains of seperation, time, and life's harshest adversities. There are obvious undercurrents sacrificed to editing, as well: the sexual ambiguity between Ruby Thewes and Ada Monroe, the strain of many secondary relationships, the nature of the community of Cold Mountain itself, which is the second love for all its players. Disconnections would have been a wonderful sub-theme for this drama had they been properly treated: the letters that are written but never delivered, the almost-captures and escapes, the romances that might have replaced Ada and Inman's love had they been less devoted. The truly stellar performance here is Zellweger's as Ruby Thewes, who provides comic relief, soul, and spirit to what a drama that might otherwise have draped itself over a couch and died, like a pathetic Victorian poet, of TB and melancholia. Charles Frazier wrote this character as a bi-racial woman, which gave me some pause prior to seeing the film. But Zellweger, who is fast becoming one of the standout reliable actors of her generation, simply steals this movie. Though the entire package fails to deliver the awesome promise of its hype, Zellweger should get a best supporting actress award for this role. Her performance rises far, far above the film itself. There are, in fact, no bad performances in this movie. Kidman is pale and ethereal, but she is supposed to be. Law is wonderful in his first romantic lead and his facets as the tormented soldier do shine. The supporting cast-- most notably Donald Sutherland, Cathy Baker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, James Gammon, Natalie Portman, and Ray Winstone-- is excellent, turning in a very solid and reliable foundation for the leads. Law and Kidman, I think, would have given us a great deal more if they'd had more rein, more script, and less opportunity to drift in Minghella's sea of carefully staged opportunities for Oscar-worthy-moments that, frankly, aren't. The film takes place in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, which are uniquely lovely in that they are a place along the Appalachian chain where two ranges blend. The landscape, one with which I am very familiar, since it is the cradle of my own family, is unique in all the world. Portions of this film were done in Virginia, but very few. The rest was filmed in Romania. Most viewers won't see any distinction there, but I did. The scenes in Romania were too rough for that region, which is a landscape of gentle, rolling giants rather than towering peaks. There is a blue mistiness, a teal and aqua haze that exists only in that portion of the world where Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee come together to divide the Appalachians into its sister ranges: the Blue Ridge and the Smokies. Anyone who has lived or oft visited these areas will note the difference. It doesn't exactly mar the film in any way, but it's worth mentioning. Minghella, I think, has a better reputation than he has earned. He craves melodrama, selects books that wallow in it for his projects, and slathers it on with a very heavy hand in delivering them to his audience. The English Patient, which was vastly over-indulged and over-credited, is another example. Cold Mountain suffers the same fate, unfortunately, but the performances are worthy ones in spite of this. |