Chicago – First Joe Wright sucked the life out of “Anna Karenina” with his meticulously choreographed, self-conscious pageantry. Then Baz Luhrmann proved that while heavy-handed spectacle may have appealed to Jay Gatsby himself, it was a recipe for disaster when applied to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s prose. Nothing kills off the power of a metaphor more than a large neon sign erected to underline its significance.
After seeing Andrea Arnold’s quietly mesmerizing adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 classic “Wuthering Heights,” I’m now hungering to see her take on other literary landmarks, particularly “The Great Gatsby.” Luhrmann’s film hammers home the meaning of Fitzgerald’s writing with such aggravating pomp and circumstance, complete with entire sections of text materializing onscreen, I was half-expecting to see a bouncing Gatsby head spring off each word as it was dutifully recited. Though Wright and Luhrmann pride themselves on their filmic exuberance, Arnold...
After seeing Andrea Arnold’s quietly mesmerizing adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 classic “Wuthering Heights,” I’m now hungering to see her take on other literary landmarks, particularly “The Great Gatsby.” Luhrmann’s film hammers home the meaning of Fitzgerald’s writing with such aggravating pomp and circumstance, complete with entire sections of text materializing onscreen, I was half-expecting to see a bouncing Gatsby head spring off each word as it was dutifully recited. Though Wright and Luhrmann pride themselves on their filmic exuberance, Arnold...
- 5/9/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The dark and moody new adaptation of Wuthering Heights puts an emphasis on the “wuthering.” Writer-director Andrea Arnold includes extensive footage of the natural world around the Heights to represent the beauty and brutality of nature—both in the world and within the characters. She also explores human nature by telling this entire story from the point of view of Heathcliff.
When young Heathcliff (Solomon Glave) is brought to the Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, he is immediately treated like an outsider not just because he comes from the streets but also because of the dark color of his skin. He is raised as a laborer by the Earnshaw’s and suffers extreme beatings from racist Hindley Earnshaw (Lee Shaw). Heathcliff’s only sense of comfort and refuge comes from Hindley’s younger sister Catherine (Shannon Beer). As children they form an intense emotional bond that follows them through their lives.
When young Heathcliff (Solomon Glave) is brought to the Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, he is immediately treated like an outsider not just because he comes from the streets but also because of the dark color of his skin. He is raised as a laborer by the Earnshaw’s and suffers extreme beatings from racist Hindley Earnshaw (Lee Shaw). Heathcliff’s only sense of comfort and refuge comes from Hindley’s younger sister Catherine (Shannon Beer). As children they form an intense emotional bond that follows them through their lives.
- 5/4/2013
- by John Keith
- JustPressPlay.net
Chicago – Andrea Arnold continues to make the case that she’s one of the world’s most interesting filmmakers with the unexpected creative success of her adaptation of “Wuthering Heights,” a story that may not at first seem to fit in her narrative framework but proves to be a perfect choice for this multi-talented filmmaker. Bringing the grit and realism that made “Red Road” and “Fish Tank” such dramatic forces, Arnold doesn’t merely adapt Bronte’s story but retells it in her own style, creating a film that can be frustratingly languid to start but becomes mesmerizing as it progresses, fully transporting the viewer to a world with characters that most of us know in a story English majors could tell you by heart and somehow makes it feel new. Arnold takes Bronte’s work and makes it both more realistic and more poetic. She makes daring decisions and...
- 11/30/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Wuthering Heights
Directed by Andrea Arnold
Written by Andrea Arnold and Olivia Hetreed
United Kingdom, 2011
In bringing Wuthering Heights, perhaps the stormiest of the Victorian-era romances, to life on film once again, director and co-writer Andrea Arnold gives the story a fresh, arty, and bleak new coat of paint. The tale of Heathcliff and Catherine, star-crossed lovers on the English moors doomed to failure, has always been stark, a harsh depiction of life on the outskirts. But Arnold’s approach, best exemplified by the very deliberate in-your-face, hand-held cinematography, is a daring and impressive take, eschewing melodrama for the most part.
Adapting novels to the big screen is always tricky, and Arnold’s choice to present the struggles of its two leads internally at first seems like a sure sign of failure. However, the way she portrays Heathcliff and Catherine through her direction and the script (co-written by Olivia Hetreed) in such a spare,...
Directed by Andrea Arnold
Written by Andrea Arnold and Olivia Hetreed
United Kingdom, 2011
In bringing Wuthering Heights, perhaps the stormiest of the Victorian-era romances, to life on film once again, director and co-writer Andrea Arnold gives the story a fresh, arty, and bleak new coat of paint. The tale of Heathcliff and Catherine, star-crossed lovers on the English moors doomed to failure, has always been stark, a harsh depiction of life on the outskirts. But Arnold’s approach, best exemplified by the very deliberate in-your-face, hand-held cinematography, is a daring and impressive take, eschewing melodrama for the most part.
Adapting novels to the big screen is always tricky, and Arnold’s choice to present the struggles of its two leads internally at first seems like a sure sign of failure. However, the way she portrays Heathcliff and Catherine through her direction and the script (co-written by Olivia Hetreed) in such a spare,...
- 10/19/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
When we first meet Heathcliff (James Howson) he repeatedly throws his body against the graffitied wall of a seemingly abandoned bedroom. Heathcliff is like a caged primal beast, driven mad to the point of this masochistic behavior. Suddenly we flash back, several years later, to a younger Heathcliff's (Solomon Glave) reluctant submersion into the civilized world of the Earnshaw's household by the family's patriarch (Paul Hilton). Covered in filth and riddled with scars, Heathcliff is assumed to be a young Afro-Caribbean slave who has escaped captivity, somehow finding his way to the sparsely settled Yorkshire moors. Heathcliff discovers a kindred untamed spirit in Catherine Earnshaw (Shannon Beer), whose face is still a bit chubby with baby fat, signifying her innocence and youth. Together they frolic like feral beasts in the fog and rain of the English countryside, unbridled by parental supervision; only to return home to be beaten and reprimanded for their childish incivilities.
- 10/13/2012
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
The dark and moody new adaptation of Wuthering Heights puts an emphasis on the “wuthering.” Writer-director Andrea Arnold includes extensive footage of the natural world around the Heights to represent the beauty and brutality of nature—both in the world and within the characters. She also explores human nature by telling this entire story from the point of view of Heathcliff.
When young Heathcliff (Solomon Glave) is brought to the Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, he is immediately treated like an outsider not just because he comes from the streets but also because of the dark color of his skin. He is raised as a laborer by the Earnshaw’s and suffers extreme beatings from racist Hindley Earnshaw (Lee Shaw). Heathcliff’s only sense of comfort and refuge comes from Hindley’s younger sister Catherine (Shannon Beer). As children they form an intense emotional bond that follows them through their lives.
When young Heathcliff (Solomon Glave) is brought to the Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, he is immediately treated like an outsider not just because he comes from the streets but also because of the dark color of his skin. He is raised as a laborer by the Earnshaw’s and suffers extreme beatings from racist Hindley Earnshaw (Lee Shaw). Heathcliff’s only sense of comfort and refuge comes from Hindley’s younger sister Catherine (Shannon Beer). As children they form an intense emotional bond that follows them through their lives.
- 10/5/2012
- by John Keith
- JustPressPlay.net
Wuthering Heights
Directed by Andrea Arnold
Screenplay by Olivia Hetreed
2011, UK
Based on Emily Brontë’s gothic novel from over 160 years ago, Wuthering Heights is a surprising choice for Andrea Arnold’s third feature. Fans of previous film adaptations are most likely to be disappointed in the new big screen version as this radical new take is refreshingly different: dark and twisted, peppered with profanity, brief moments of nudity and animalistic sexual behaviour.
Arnold has been one of the most exciting female directors to emerge in the last decade or so. The former television presenter won an Oscar for her short film Wasp in 2005, and made her feature debut the following year with the gritty revenge-themed thriller Red Road. It went on to win the Jury Prize at Cannes that year and Arnold won the BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer. Her followup, Fish Tank, garnered even more acclaim internationally.
Arnold continues to cast nonprofessionals,...
Directed by Andrea Arnold
Screenplay by Olivia Hetreed
2011, UK
Based on Emily Brontë’s gothic novel from over 160 years ago, Wuthering Heights is a surprising choice for Andrea Arnold’s third feature. Fans of previous film adaptations are most likely to be disappointed in the new big screen version as this radical new take is refreshingly different: dark and twisted, peppered with profanity, brief moments of nudity and animalistic sexual behaviour.
Arnold has been one of the most exciting female directors to emerge in the last decade or so. The former television presenter won an Oscar for her short film Wasp in 2005, and made her feature debut the following year with the gritty revenge-themed thriller Red Road. It went on to win the Jury Prize at Cannes that year and Arnold won the BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer. Her followup, Fish Tank, garnered even more acclaim internationally.
Arnold continues to cast nonprofessionals,...
- 10/4/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Such Great Heights: Andrea Arnold’s Provocative Adaptation Revitalizes Classic Tale
While she’s stated herself that she dislikes the idea of adapting a novel to film, director Andrea Arnold has surprised and surpassed negative connotations with this often bastardizing notion to create one of the most beautiful, original and outstanding interpretations of Emily Bronte’s beloved novel of tempestuous love, Wuthering Heights. Not to mention, the classic tale has been filmed numerous times and to varying degrees (Bunuel’s glorious 1954 version has stood as the most worthwhile but most unavailable stateside, leaving Merle Oberon and Juliette Binoche versions as the definitive cinematic versions to Western eyes), but Arnold has to be given credit for making this a vision all her own, and, inadvertently, she carries with it a cinematic hope that fresh life can indeed be brought to twice told tales, though, to be honest, this kind of treat is considerably rare.
While she’s stated herself that she dislikes the idea of adapting a novel to film, director Andrea Arnold has surprised and surpassed negative connotations with this often bastardizing notion to create one of the most beautiful, original and outstanding interpretations of Emily Bronte’s beloved novel of tempestuous love, Wuthering Heights. Not to mention, the classic tale has been filmed numerous times and to varying degrees (Bunuel’s glorious 1954 version has stood as the most worthwhile but most unavailable stateside, leaving Merle Oberon and Juliette Binoche versions as the definitive cinematic versions to Western eyes), but Arnold has to be given credit for making this a vision all her own, and, inadvertently, she carries with it a cinematic hope that fresh life can indeed be brought to twice told tales, though, to be honest, this kind of treat is considerably rare.
- 10/3/2012
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
After breaking out with the excellent coming-of-age tale Fish Tank, Andrea Arnold headed back in time to a literary classic for her next feature. Wuthering Heights features mostly unknowns among its cast of Kaya Scodelario, James Howson, Solomon Glave, Shannon Beer, Steve Evets, Oliver Milburn and with Oscilloscope picking it up for a fall release, we’ve got the first trailer today.
We just included it as one of the best fall films we’ve already seen and this trailer confirms the gorgeous world Arnold has captured. Shot in full frame, back at Tiff we said she “paints this world with a deft touch, crafting tightly focused close-ups to convey emotion rather than words. Establishing shots only open wide a handful of times, instead opting for a beetle crawling through the grass or a spiderweb oscillating in the cold wind. These little touches build the world more than any sort...
We just included it as one of the best fall films we’ve already seen and this trailer confirms the gorgeous world Arnold has captured. Shot in full frame, back at Tiff we said she “paints this world with a deft touch, crafting tightly focused close-ups to convey emotion rather than words. Establishing shots only open wide a handful of times, instead opting for a beetle crawling through the grass or a spiderweb oscillating in the cold wind. These little touches build the world more than any sort...
- 9/7/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Following up their initial competition announcement the folks at the Sundance Film Festival have released the names of thirty additional 2012 selections, in the Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, Next, and New Frontiers sections.
Although these sections tend to focus more on young and up-and-coming filmmakers (particularly the Next sidebar, which was created just a few years ago with that specific mandate), you might find a few names you recognize in the full list of invited films below. Next is where you'll find the new film from "Great World of Sound" director Craig Zobel; it's called "Compliance" and it's described as the (based-on-a-)true story of what happens "when a prank caller convinces a fast food restaurant manager to interrogate an innocent young employee." Lynn Shelton, director of "Humpday," will premiere "Your Sister's Sister" starring Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt and "Humpday"s Mark Duplass. Duplass also wrote his wife Katie Aselton...
Although these sections tend to focus more on young and up-and-coming filmmakers (particularly the Next sidebar, which was created just a few years ago with that specific mandate), you might find a few names you recognize in the full list of invited films below. Next is where you'll find the new film from "Great World of Sound" director Craig Zobel; it's called "Compliance" and it's described as the (based-on-a-)true story of what happens "when a prank caller convinces a fast food restaurant manager to interrogate an innocent young employee." Lynn Shelton, director of "Humpday," will premiere "Your Sister's Sister" starring Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt and "Humpday"s Mark Duplass. Duplass also wrote his wife Katie Aselton...
- 12/2/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
Sundance continues to announce their lineups for each program and now we have the list of movies featured in the Spotlight section – the non-competition section where the festival screens some of their favourite films from other fests. Here is the lineup for 2012.
Corpo Celeste / Italy (Director and screenwriter: Alice Rohrwacher) — After moving back to southern Italy with her mother and older sister, 13-year-old Marta struggles to find her place, restlessly testing the boundaries of an unfamiliar city and the catechism of the Catholic church. Cast: Yle Vianello, Salvatore Cantalupo, Anita Caprioli, Renato Carpentiere.
Declaration Of War / Belgium (Director: Valérie Donzelli, Screenwriters: Jérémie Elkaïm, Valérie Donzelli) — A young couple embark upon a painful, enlightening journey when they discover that their newborn child is very ill. Cast: Valérie Donzelli, Jérémie Elkaïm, César Desseix. North American Premiere.
Elena / Russia (Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev, Screenwriter: Oleg Negin) — A meditative, modern-noir tale about an older woman,...
Corpo Celeste / Italy (Director and screenwriter: Alice Rohrwacher) — After moving back to southern Italy with her mother and older sister, 13-year-old Marta struggles to find her place, restlessly testing the boundaries of an unfamiliar city and the catechism of the Catholic church. Cast: Yle Vianello, Salvatore Cantalupo, Anita Caprioli, Renato Carpentiere.
Declaration Of War / Belgium (Director: Valérie Donzelli, Screenwriters: Jérémie Elkaïm, Valérie Donzelli) — A young couple embark upon a painful, enlightening journey when they discover that their newborn child is very ill. Cast: Valérie Donzelli, Jérémie Elkaïm, César Desseix. North American Premiere.
Elena / Russia (Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev, Screenwriter: Oleg Negin) — A meditative, modern-noir tale about an older woman,...
- 12/2/2011
- by Kyle Reese
- SoundOnSight
Yesterday Sundance released their films up for competition for the 2012 festival. But that was only one half of the festival slate. Now Sundance has released the second half of films that will be released as part of the festivities. Films in competition are just as interesting as those not in competition and with titles The Raid and Wuthering Heights are all on the list, it will be a fun watch this year.
Check out the list for the Out of Competition film that can be seen at the Sundance Film Festival 2012 below.
Spotlight
Corpo Celeste / Italy (Director and screenwriter: Alice Rohrwacher) — After moving back to southern Italy with her mother and older sister, 13-year-old Marta struggles to find her place, restlessly testing the boundaries of an unfamiliar city and the catechism of the Catholic church.Cast: Yle Vianello, Salvatore Cantalupo, Anita Caprioli, Renato Carpentiere.
Declaration Of War / Belgium (Director: Valérie Donzelli,...
Check out the list for the Out of Competition film that can be seen at the Sundance Film Festival 2012 below.
Spotlight
Corpo Celeste / Italy (Director and screenwriter: Alice Rohrwacher) — After moving back to southern Italy with her mother and older sister, 13-year-old Marta struggles to find her place, restlessly testing the boundaries of an unfamiliar city and the catechism of the Catholic church.Cast: Yle Vianello, Salvatore Cantalupo, Anita Caprioli, Renato Carpentiere.
Declaration Of War / Belgium (Director: Valérie Donzelli,...
- 12/1/2011
- by Mike Lee
- FusedFilm
Yesterday The Sundance Film Festival released their list of In-Competition films, today they have released their line-up of Non-Competition films. I've had a blast every year that I've attended The Sundance Film Festival, it's always a surprise! You never know what movie you are going to see until you see it. If you ever get a chance to go I highly recommend that you do. Each film on the list has a little description next to it. The festival will take place January 19th to the 29th.
Check out the list of movies below and let us know of any that you are interested in watching or hearing about so that we can get it covered for you. Some of the films might look familiar to you such as The Raid, Grabbers and Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, and Wuthering Heights. The Raid is at the top of...
Check out the list of movies below and let us know of any that you are interested in watching or hearing about so that we can get it covered for you. Some of the films might look familiar to you such as The Raid, Grabbers and Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, and Wuthering Heights. The Raid is at the top of...
- 12/1/2011
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
Yesterday the Sundance Film Festival announced the core lineup of films [1] that will be spotlit in the Competition slates at the 2012 festival. Now we've got a lineup of films that will play out of competition in the Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, Next <=> and New Frontier schedules. There are a few films in here with which you might be nominally familiar, like The Raid, Grabbers and Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie, not to mention Andrea Arnold's new version of Wuthering Heights. But many are new announcements. While the competition lineups are always a good place to look for some of the films that will be the most talked-about in the year following each Sundance fest, these schedules are where some of the more unique and provocative films live. There are still some big premieres to be announced next week, but if I was making a big Sundance wishlist,...
- 12/1/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Getty Images The marquee of the Egyptian Theater announces the Sundance Film Festival
Yesterday, the Sundance Institute announced its in-competition narrative and documentary films for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Today, they announced their out-of-competition film in the Spotlight, Midnight, Next and New Frontier sections. The full list is below:
Spotlight
Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world, the Spotlight program is a tribute to the cinema we love.
Corpo Celeste / Italy (Director and screenwriter: Alice Rohrwacher) — After...
Yesterday, the Sundance Institute announced its in-competition narrative and documentary films for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Today, they announced their out-of-competition film in the Spotlight, Midnight, Next and New Frontier sections. The full list is below:
Spotlight
Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world, the Spotlight program is a tribute to the cinema we love.
Corpo Celeste / Italy (Director and screenwriter: Alice Rohrwacher) — After...
- 12/1/2011
- by Michelle Kung
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Following yesterday's announcement of the titles lined up for the four programs of the Competition, the Sundance Film Festival has unveiled the lineups of its out-of-competition sections: Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, Next <=> and New Frontier. This time, I'm going to go ahead and copy-n-paste the release nearly in full because, well, these are, potentially at least, the more interesting batches.
We'll cut in just as Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, is saying, “In many ways, the extremes of the Festival’s program are most readily apparent in our out-of-competition sections, which showcase the wildest comedies, the most terrifying horror films and uncompromised visions from singular voices springing up from around the country and the world. We hope audiences experiment with their film selections to an equal degree as these filmmakers have experimented with their storytelling.”
Spotlight
Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world,...
We'll cut in just as Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, is saying, “In many ways, the extremes of the Festival’s program are most readily apparent in our out-of-competition sections, which showcase the wildest comedies, the most terrifying horror films and uncompromised visions from singular voices springing up from around the country and the world. We hope audiences experiment with their film selections to an equal degree as these filmmakers have experimented with their storytelling.”
Spotlight
Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world,...
- 12/1/2011
- MUBI
Following yesterday’s announcement of competition titles, Sundance Film Festival 2012 have announced the line-up for a few more sections today. In their Spotlight section we have a few of my favorite Tiff titles, including Wuthering Heights (pictured above), Your Sister’s Sister, as well as audience-winners The Raid and Where Do We Go Now? We also get the insane-looking Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie in the midnight section. Check out the list below.
Park City, Ut — Sundance Institute announced today the films selected to screen in the 2012 Sundance Film Festival out-of-competition sections Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, Next <=> and New Frontier. The Festival takes place from January 19 through 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The complete list of films is available at www.sundance.org/festival.
Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, said, “In many ways, the extremes of the...
Park City, Ut — Sundance Institute announced today the films selected to screen in the 2012 Sundance Film Festival out-of-competition sections Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, Next <=> and New Frontier. The Festival takes place from January 19 through 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The complete list of films is available at www.sundance.org/festival.
Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, said, “In many ways, the extremes of the...
- 12/1/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
"After a period in which versions of Austen hogged our screens, the Brontës have fought back," writes Boyd Tonkin in a piece for the Independent that begins, by the way, with a brief but rousing history of Charlotte's detestation of Jane Austen. "Released today, Andrea Arnold's savagely uncompromising Wuthering Heights joins a line of adaptations of Emily's only surviving novel that began in 1920 (a lost work by Av Bramble) and went on to include renderings from directors as varied as William Wyler — with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon still the ranking Heathcliff and Cathy Earnshaw to many fans — and Yoshishige Yoshida, Luis Buñuel and Jacques Rivette. Earlier this year, Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre, with Mia Wasikowska as the uncowed governess and Michael Fassbender the sulphurous Mr Rochester, offered a rather smoother ride through another much-adapted book, albeit one that shares with Arnold — and the Brontës — a rapt attention...
- 11/13/2011
- MUBI
The Yorkshire landscape steals the show in Andrea Arnold's stark, uneasy adaptation of Emily Brontë's tragic romance
In the version of Cole Porter's "Let's Do It" that he used in his Las Vegas nightclub act in the 1950s, Noël Coward included a celebrated couplet that threw doubts on the much vaunted sexual prowess of America's most macho author while extolling the adventurousness of a 19th-century English country vicar's three daughters. "The Brontës felt that they must do it, Ernest Hemingway could just do it," he sang, and indeed the range of social, psychological and sexual experience Emily, Charlotte and Anne explored in their novels is remarkable. So much so that only one of the several film versions of Emily's Wuthering Heights made over the past 90 years has attempted to encompass the book's 30-odd years of pain, misery and ecstasy and its three generations of man handing on...
In the version of Cole Porter's "Let's Do It" that he used in his Las Vegas nightclub act in the 1950s, Noël Coward included a celebrated couplet that threw doubts on the much vaunted sexual prowess of America's most macho author while extolling the adventurousness of a 19th-century English country vicar's three daughters. "The Brontës felt that they must do it, Ernest Hemingway could just do it," he sang, and indeed the range of social, psychological and sexual experience Emily, Charlotte and Anne explored in their novels is remarkable. So much so that only one of the several film versions of Emily's Wuthering Heights made over the past 90 years has attempted to encompass the book's 30-odd years of pain, misery and ecstasy and its three generations of man handing on...
- 11/13/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Black Pond (15)
(Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe, 2011, UK) Chris Langham, Colin Hurley, Amanda Hadingue, Will Sharpe, Simon Amstell. 82 mins
First-time films are traditionally youthful coming-of-age stories, but this delightful little oddity revolves around a miserable middle-aged couple and the deaths of first their three-legged dog, then a very strange stranger they invite to dinner. Everything about it is pretty eccentric, in fact, with surreal animated interludes, an absurd cameo from Amstell and plenty of off-balance domestic comedy, not to mention the risky return of Langham. But in its own idiosyncratic way, it all fits together perfectly.
Wuthering Heights (15)
(Andrea Arnold, 2011, UK) Kaya Scodelario, James Howson, Shannon Beer. 129 mins
Discarding the usual niceties of costume drama, Arnold rolls Brontë's saga in the muck for this provocative, sensuous interpretation. Sublime to start with, it never quite recovers from a second-half change of cast.
The Rum Diary (15)
(Bruce Robinson, 2011, Us) Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart,...
(Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe, 2011, UK) Chris Langham, Colin Hurley, Amanda Hadingue, Will Sharpe, Simon Amstell. 82 mins
First-time films are traditionally youthful coming-of-age stories, but this delightful little oddity revolves around a miserable middle-aged couple and the deaths of first their three-legged dog, then a very strange stranger they invite to dinner. Everything about it is pretty eccentric, in fact, with surreal animated interludes, an absurd cameo from Amstell and plenty of off-balance domestic comedy, not to mention the risky return of Langham. But in its own idiosyncratic way, it all fits together perfectly.
Wuthering Heights (15)
(Andrea Arnold, 2011, UK) Kaya Scodelario, James Howson, Shannon Beer. 129 mins
Discarding the usual niceties of costume drama, Arnold rolls Brontë's saga in the muck for this provocative, sensuous interpretation. Sublime to start with, it never quite recovers from a second-half change of cast.
The Rum Diary (15)
(Bruce Robinson, 2011, Us) Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart,...
- 11/12/2011
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Those expecting the delicate etiquette and burning passion of Emily Brontë’s infamous 1847 doomed love affair, Wuthering Heights, set on the Yorkshire Moors, may find award-winning Fish Tank director Andrea Arnold’s film version a little rougher round the edges, but equally dramatic. Rather than the fluffy period drama brought to many screens over the years, Arnold who is known to be a very instinctive film-maker, aims for the dark heart of the novel’s depiction of mental and physical cruelty.
A poor, young black boy called Heathcliff (Solomon Glave) is discovered on the streets of Liverpool by Mr Earnshaw (Paul Hilton), a farmer, and taken back to Yorkshire to live on the family farm on the Moors, Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff grows up with the farmer’s spirited daughter, Cathy (Shannon Beer), who he soon develops an intense relationship with – much to the dislike of Cathy’s jealous older brother who sees Earnshaw Sr.
A poor, young black boy called Heathcliff (Solomon Glave) is discovered on the streets of Liverpool by Mr Earnshaw (Paul Hilton), a farmer, and taken back to Yorkshire to live on the family farm on the Moors, Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff grows up with the farmer’s spirited daughter, Cathy (Shannon Beer), who he soon develops an intense relationship with – much to the dislike of Cathy’s jealous older brother who sees Earnshaw Sr.
- 11/10/2011
- by Lisa Giles-Keddie
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Andrea Arnold's adaptation of the Emily Brontë classic strips away all the period-drama cliches to create a passionate, elemental drama
Heathcliff: two syllables conjuring desolate space and dizzying altitude. The two ideas are well represented in this brilliant, visceral, though flawed version of the Emily Brontë novel, a daring raid behind the lines of heritage English Lit. Director Andrea Arnold and cinematographer Robbie Ryan strip the story ruthlessly down t o its bare essentials: pain, anger and love.
From the start, the film sweeps away the period choreography of the conventional literary adaptation, sweeps it away so thoroughly that for the first few minutes I thought that this Wuthering Heights must be set a hundred years after a nuclear strike. This version brings the story back to a kind of social-realist year zero. It dispenses with the "flashback" overture, plunging more or less straight into the action, but...
Heathcliff: two syllables conjuring desolate space and dizzying altitude. The two ideas are well represented in this brilliant, visceral, though flawed version of the Emily Brontë novel, a daring raid behind the lines of heritage English Lit. Director Andrea Arnold and cinematographer Robbie Ryan strip the story ruthlessly down t o its bare essentials: pain, anger and love.
From the start, the film sweeps away the period choreography of the conventional literary adaptation, sweeps it away so thoroughly that for the first few minutes I thought that this Wuthering Heights must be set a hundred years after a nuclear strike. This version brings the story back to a kind of social-realist year zero. It dispenses with the "flashback" overture, plunging more or less straight into the action, but...
- 11/10/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Andrea Arnold's new adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" will open this year's 25th Leeds International Film Festival on November 3. Arnold will be joined by actors James Howson, Shannon Beer and Solomon Glave at the gala screening Thursday night. Leeds noted that the film has overtaken 2010's "The King's Speech" as the fastest selling film in the history of the festival. More than 300 films from around the world will screen ...
- 11/2/2011
- Indiewire
Some adaptations of classic literary go for sumptuous decor and costume, emphasising the general gorgeousness of the houses, the skirts and the bonnets of yesteryear, and involve Judi Dench in some capacity. Then there's Andrea Arnolds' Wuthering Heights, which keeps its gaze firmly on the skies and hills, throws on whatever clothes come to hand and doesn't feature anyone you'll recognise.The famously brooding Heathcliff is played by James Howson (as an adult) and Solomon Glave (as the younger version), with Cathy played by Kaya Scodelario (as an adult) and Shannon Beer. Cast after open auditions, they're closer in ages to the characters in the novel than any cast before them. This is a world-first look at the new Cathy, by the by.Wuthering Heights is out in the UK on November 11, and will be showing at the London Film Festival before that.
- 9/30/2011
- EmpireOnline
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