Tonight I saw The Other Boleyn Girl. I felt left out, everyone I knew wanted to see it and I just didn't think it looked that great; reluctantly I went to check it out. This film chronicles the lives the the Boleyn sisters and Boleyn family in regards to their dealings with Henry VIII. The film is based on a book of the same name, and I'm not sure how much is research and how much is dramatic conjection.
Hits:
Mark Rylance- Let me say, amazing. He didn't have much of a part, but, in stark contrast to all of the other actors, he was quiet, took his time, and had several emotional colors/shading interwoven throughout. He was able to do what the other actors in the film weren't which I not sure speaks better for his training and past work or down upon typical Hollywood acting.
Kristin Scott Thomas- Again, a great actor, and stood out just like Mark Rylance. But in addition to all that, her character was likable.
Ann Boleyn's return image- There are dozens of pictures of English people returning from France around this period, and while this particular image wasn't astounding, it was striking.
Misses:
Script- Being based on a book, the scope of the story is very large and encompassing, but in pruning the original text down to a movie, the final product can handle or convey much less. The script seemed to gloss over alot of the personal, emotional moments to push the story forward which, I feel, is the opposite of what the purpose of a movie is, to breath life into a story.
Acting Styles- While Mark Rylance and Kristen Scott Thomas were great, they were so very different from the younger members of the cast that is brought out the lesser training and experience of the ladder.
Score- While it was descent throughout, at the climax of Anne's trial, the score changed to synth, like in Scarface.
While I really went in trying to enjoy the film, I didn't. I feel it left out the very things I like to see when I go to movies and accentuated what has been performed or written about the Tudor dynasty in the past few years many, many times. Furthermore, while I usually really enjoy great acting, the variation of the acting styles made the main actors (the Boleyn Girls and Henry VIII) look unschooled and cheap, and made it harder to watch.
