One thing this movie excels in is taking you back in time. Back to a time that maybe didn't even exist quite like this - well-composed, carefully picked colors, spotless suits and vibrant jazz joints. But to be honest, us moviegoers don't care whether reality used to be like this or like that. We want to be taken to a magic place for two hours and, with its great photography and the heavenly music, "An Education" does just that. So what more can we want?
I'll tell you what - a story. I like Nick Hornby a lot and I have read most of his novels. All the more, I was genuinely baffled at how an exciting, sparkling beginning developed into a what tasted like a flat drink in the end. Looking behind the eye and ear candy, what is there? Intelligent, beautiful college girl is seduced by what seems to be a dream guy and consequentially flunks high school. Eventually she finds out he's not all he pretended to be and finally manages to straighten up. A plot line that, examined closely, would look pale next to a random soap episode.
This is where I stop nagging because I actually liked the movie. Carey Mulligan is just great to watch and her performance feels like a fresh breeze throughout. Peter Sarsgaard does a solid job although he seems a bit too sleazy at times. Most of all, I enjoyed watching Alfred Molina - decades of acting experience effortlessly outplaying the talented young.
To summarize, my problem with this film is not its lack of intellectual stimulation, because, quite simply, it is entertaining enough to do without. The problem is that it kind of *promises* food for thought in the beginning and doesn't hold up to that promise in the end. Anyway that's how I felt about it. All in all it's a movie like a candy bar - great to indulge in, soon forgotten afterward.
I'll tell you what - a story. I like Nick Hornby a lot and I have read most of his novels. All the more, I was genuinely baffled at how an exciting, sparkling beginning developed into a what tasted like a flat drink in the end. Looking behind the eye and ear candy, what is there? Intelligent, beautiful college girl is seduced by what seems to be a dream guy and consequentially flunks high school. Eventually she finds out he's not all he pretended to be and finally manages to straighten up. A plot line that, examined closely, would look pale next to a random soap episode.
This is where I stop nagging because I actually liked the movie. Carey Mulligan is just great to watch and her performance feels like a fresh breeze throughout. Peter Sarsgaard does a solid job although he seems a bit too sleazy at times. Most of all, I enjoyed watching Alfred Molina - decades of acting experience effortlessly outplaying the talented young.
To summarize, my problem with this film is not its lack of intellectual stimulation, because, quite simply, it is entertaining enough to do without. The problem is that it kind of *promises* food for thought in the beginning and doesn't hold up to that promise in the end. Anyway that's how I felt about it. All in all it's a movie like a candy bar - great to indulge in, soon forgotten afterward.