Review of The Book Thief (2013) by Annie H — 31 Mar 2014

Although a messy third act, and a few moments that feel a little rushed and overly sentimental, this film can be easily defined as 'Oh wasn't it lovely'.

That line is what echoed the cinema halls as the lights raised at the end of the film. I definitely agreed with this statement, but I am sure most of the other people saying this in the way that it was the best kind of film, that there was more to it. For me though, being 'lovely' was the most it ever was.

For some reason, although I found the performances brilliant and touching, when it came to the third act I realised I didn't have any real connection to the characters, and when the film tries to become sentimental I felt even more distant from it as it really felt like the film was forcing you to feel sad.

Then I realised that it wasn't either Geoffrey Rush or Emily Watson's fault for giving such good performances, but the weak directing in some places, and also choppy editing in places.

I wished I had enjoyed this film more, and had been emotionally affected, but it just didn't completely work for me. There was a nice story at the heart of it with some nice performances. And it was lovely, but that was all it was. And for me it wasn't completely satisfying.