Review of The Age of Innocence (1993) by Yeliz B — 15 Mar 2011

So I decided to watch this film because I am doing a report on the author who wrote the book "Age of Innocence", Edith Wharton, and I heard the movie stayed true to her story so I felt I should watch it.

I did like the movie overall, the ending was the best part b/c it was unexpected. depressing yet simple ending but very realistic and I liked it..

However I had a couple problems with the film..

1) I am so glad I watched the movie before even reading book b/c the movie seemed to drag out a bit. and if the movie seemed to go slow imagine how long it would feel when reading the book? not a good sign..i almost fell asleep at one point :x.

2) the acting was good, especially daniel-day lewis!l that man can do no wrong. the cast was brilliant in general, but winona and michelle fell flat for me :x I hate to say that b/c I love the both of them >__< idk I just felt that every-time they spoke it sounded too generic and cheesy :/ and can we talk about how michelle pfeiffer looked kind of bland and sort of unattractive? THAT WOMAN IS HOTT! idk what they did to her face but it didnt look right.

3) this is my 2nd Scorsese film. the first was Shutter Island (which wasnt great) and after watching this i've realized that I dont dig the way he directs :x IM SORRY, but honestly the man is so egotistical, he HAS to make every shot complicated and stupid, its as if he's trying to prove he's a director. his camera work is not subtle AT ALL. I feel like when he directs he says "OH MY GOD we HAVE to do an obscure spotlight zoom on this character, it'll add a lot of drama and point out my several directing techniques!" uhh...you DONT have to point out the obvious man, and he does just that. he exaggerates every shot and it kind of takes away from the emotion of a scene. I dont know, it was rather annoying.

But I dont mean to bash this movie or go off on a rant, I did enjoy it. I just felt it could have been better. stories like this interest me. it kind of reminded me of "Love In the Time of Cholera" (which I love), so yeah I did like it but I was expecting better.