((I have not read the book.))
I really wanted this movie to end off strong. I'm a sucker for touching and sad love stories and this movie is all about them. I was completely invested in each and every character's relationships -- except for Finn's, ironically, and was ready to give this movie a solid 8 or 9... up until the third act. Now, throughout the whole movie I could definitely feel the inclusion of a "higher power", guiding all these women through their lives to where they were now. Like the crow, for example. I was fine with this, and I personally found it to actually work in the story's favour. But when the Deus Ex Dust Devil via divine intervention appeared after Finn told her mother about her recent affair, I was immediately removed from my investment and left disappointed.
Now, my biggest gripe with this spontaneous haboob is how abruptly it occurs and how swiftly it leads to all loose ends being tied, with a mere 16 MINUTES left in the runtime. To summarize, Finn's thesis that she'd been working on for over a year went flying all over the place due to the strong winds, which lead to the following events just sort of happening: Glady decided to tear down her wall of self-expressive anger so that she could truly forgive her sister, Em found her way into Dean's studio of scandalous affair and made up with him, Sophia seemed to find peace with the runaway husband of her past, and Finn escaped the passionate (and slightly predatory, I felt) clutches of Leon back to Sam. These last 16 minutes were the most unsatisfying attempts at conclusions that I have ever bore witness to in recent memory; they felt unnatural and like the writing room were scrambling trying to figure out how to tie a bow on each character so that they may have happy endings, when this whole movie's strong suit was about hurt characters learning to live life without happy endings in the first place. The character's "happy endings" should have occurred vicariously through Finn's decision to either stay with or leave Sam, having gained all the knowledge passed down to her by the quilting group. This, however, is not what happened, and instead we were presented with a half-baked result. Credit where credit is due, though, I did really like the part at the end where the whole quilting group came together to finish Finn's marriage quilt, while a montage went through each lady to recap on their pasts. That scene did make me shed some tears.
What saved this film was the casting, music, and cinematography. Without a doubt, this movie would have been forgettable fodder had it not been for these three saving graces. I was absolutely hooked on all of the acting throughout the whole movie, especially from Anne Bancroft, Jean Simmons, Derrick O'Connor, and Maya Angelou, just to name a few. The music captivated me and I'll definitely be listening to the soundtrack in my own time. Lastly, the cinematography was absolutely stunning. I don't know much about film or film lingo, but the vibrant, warm colours, and the shots that captured each scene's mood truly made this movie. Every angle was strategically placed and helped direct us as the viewer, silently engaging us and convincing us what to be thinking at any given moment.
I really wanted this movie to end off strong. I'm a sucker for touching and sad love stories and this movie is all about them. I was completely invested in each and every character's relationships -- except for Finn's, ironically, and was ready to give this movie a solid 8 or 9... up until the third act. Now, throughout the whole movie I could definitely feel the inclusion of a "higher power", guiding all these women through their lives to where they were now. Like the crow, for example. I was fine with this, and I personally found it to actually work in the story's favour. But when the Deus Ex Dust Devil via divine intervention appeared after Finn told her mother about her recent affair, I was immediately removed from my investment and left disappointed.
Now, my biggest gripe with this spontaneous haboob is how abruptly it occurs and how swiftly it leads to all loose ends being tied, with a mere 16 MINUTES left in the runtime. To summarize, Finn's thesis that she'd been working on for over a year went flying all over the place due to the strong winds, which lead to the following events just sort of happening: Glady decided to tear down her wall of self-expressive anger so that she could truly forgive her sister, Em found her way into Dean's studio of scandalous affair and made up with him, Sophia seemed to find peace with the runaway husband of her past, and Finn escaped the passionate (and slightly predatory, I felt) clutches of Leon back to Sam. These last 16 minutes were the most unsatisfying attempts at conclusions that I have ever bore witness to in recent memory; they felt unnatural and like the writing room were scrambling trying to figure out how to tie a bow on each character so that they may have happy endings, when this whole movie's strong suit was about hurt characters learning to live life without happy endings in the first place. The character's "happy endings" should have occurred vicariously through Finn's decision to either stay with or leave Sam, having gained all the knowledge passed down to her by the quilting group. This, however, is not what happened, and instead we were presented with a half-baked result. Credit where credit is due, though, I did really like the part at the end where the whole quilting group came together to finish Finn's marriage quilt, while a montage went through each lady to recap on their pasts. That scene did make me shed some tears.
What saved this film was the casting, music, and cinematography. Without a doubt, this movie would have been forgettable fodder had it not been for these three saving graces. I was absolutely hooked on all of the acting throughout the whole movie, especially from Anne Bancroft, Jean Simmons, Derrick O'Connor, and Maya Angelou, just to name a few. The music captivated me and I'll definitely be listening to the soundtrack in my own time. Lastly, the cinematography was absolutely stunning. I don't know much about film or film lingo, but the vibrant, warm colours, and the shots that captured each scene's mood truly made this movie. Every angle was strategically placed and helped direct us as the viewer, silently engaging us and convincing us what to be thinking at any given moment.