Review of Anna Karenina (2012) by First L — 15 Oct 2013

Personally I think this style is painfully contrived. Not even the quality actors can save this film from itself. The choreography is ghastly and the whole shenanigan completely takes away for the story.

For anyone not having read the book, they'd not know what any character arcs were about and certainly could not care about the characters, I DON'T care about the characters and this has always been a favorite book of mine.

I feel like this version of this great epic story was told in this superficial manner as a cop-out because they didn't think they "could". There are many books that are retold through the film medium, why can't this one be done well? At this point.

..(?)...I believe the ONLY producers who COULD make something of this intricate story with so much detailed nuance, is HBO. Shame on these film makers for destroying a beautiful classic. I usually LOVE adaptations, interpretations, an avant guard retelling of story, but this is a waste.

OK, perhaps the love scenes are done well, because the actors, particularly Kiera Knightly is very good at making the audience feel her intense passion and loss of self in love. I'll give this film that.