Review of Sophie's Choice (1982) by Vincent B — 06 Feb 2009

I had seen this movie awhile ago and though I reviewed it, but I guess not. Anyways, watching this film again only assures me that Meryl Streep is the greatest actress alive, and this may be the best performance of all time.

She had to master German and Polish language and accents, then be a Polish woman learning English, while throughout the film her English continually gets slightly better. Incredible. Not just that, but her sad scene were so amazingly genuine and restrained when they needed to be.

One of the most flawless performances I have ever seen, because it was flawless. Kevin Kline was also great and Peter MacNicol was also very good, but can't compare. The film was overly long though, easily could have taken out a half hour.

The director used a lot of long takes, some very welcome and appropriate, others not so much. He also enjoyed his panning establishing shots. Alot. Too much. It did feel a tad bit conventional in its plotting, but whatever, completely acting driven film, that succeeded in that impeccably well.