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Movies / On DVD / Silk
Silk

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Silk (2007)

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Reviews Counted:55

Fresh:4

Rotten:51

Average Rating:3.8/10

Consensus: Silk contains a simple love triangle story but director Francois Gerard goes to painstaking lengths to turn it into a protracted and wearisome art film.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for sexuality and nudity.

Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Sep 14, 2007 Limited

Box Office: $990,439

Synopsis: With SILK, director François Gerard (THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD, THE RED VIOLIN) brings Alessandro Baricco's bestselling novel to sumptuous life. Michael Pitt stars as Herve Joncour,... With SILK, director François Gerard (THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD, THE RED VIOLIN) brings Alessandro Baricco's bestselling novel to sumptuous life. Michael Pitt stars as Herve Joncour, a Frenchman who lives in a small town that has hit hard times. A local silkworm magnate (Alfred Molina) stumbles upon a solution for his town's troubles, and enlists Herve to travel to a hidden corner of Japan in order to smuggle back a boundless supply of rare silkworms. Traveling in disguise so that he won't be exposed, Herve succeeds in his mission. Upon returning home, he reunites with his beautiful, supportive wife, Helene (Keira Knightley). While Herve and Helene have a loving relationship, their inability to produce a child creates an undercurrent of distance between them. This is compounded when Herve meets a beautiful concubine (Sei Ashina) during one of his subsequent journeys, sparking a passionate encounter that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Gerard's adaptation of Baricco's novel spans several continents and many years. The production is aided by the lush imagery of cinematographer Alain Dostie and the haunting score from acclaimed composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (THE LAST EMPEROR). Featuring yet another standout performance from Molina, SILK tells an epic tale of love and loss in the 19th century. [More]

Starring: Michael Pitt, Keira Knightley, Koji Yakusho, Alfred Molina

Starring: Michael Pitt, Keira Knightley, Koji Yakusho, Alfred Molina, Sei Ashina

Director: Francois Gerard

Director: Francois Gerard
Screenwriter: Francois Girard, Michael Golding
Producer: Niv Fichman, Nadine Luque, Domenico Procacci, Sonoko Sakai
Composer: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Studio: Picturehouse

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Release:

Feb 26, 2008

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Reviews for Silk

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
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Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
09/29/07
Screen International

THE new Keira Knightley film is a visual delight. Unfortunately, the dialogue is far from delightful.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
11/09/07
Sun Online

a singularly uninvolving bit of piffle crafted as though those who made it were afraid of waking someone

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
09/12/07
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

A flat story, lean characters and a miscast lead make this a poor facsimile of period epics like Farewell My Concubine.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
11/23/07
Anna Smith
Anna Smith
Empire Magazine

Tremulous eroticism a-go-go, but it's all completely lifeless.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
11/09/07
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

The movie looks gorgeous ... but the story never really builds momentum; you keep waiting for the 'real' action to start, but it never does.

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
09/14/07
Betsy Bozdech
Betsy Bozdech
Hollywood.com

The movie is at its best as a collage of environments representing states of mind.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
10/17/07
Beverly Berning
Beverly Berning
culturevulture.net

Failing to make a lick of rational sense, Silk grasps at poetic straws.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
09/14/07
Bill White
Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

It is worse than a straightforward bad film, it is a middling, stagnant film that could have been extraordinary.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
02/28/08
Brandon Fibbs
Brandon Fibbs
Christianity Today

Although the period-piece film has all the trappings, from beautiful people to an obligatory sense of tragedy, it never follows through. In fact, its love story needs a shove -- it just lies there.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
09/14/07
Bruce Westbrook
Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Here's a little game you can play if you get bored during Silk, and you will get bored during Silk: How many actors do you suppose were offered the lead role before the producers settled on Michael Pitt?

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
09/13/07
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

A film that manages to remove just about everything that makes soap operas entertaining.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
09/14/07
Daniel Eagan
Daniel Eagan
Film Journal International

The lack of overt instances of exposition consequently ensures that one's enjoyment of the movie is directly related to one's familiarity with Baricco's book...

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
09/16/07
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

What's happened to Girard, who made the original 32 Shorts about Glenn Gould, then the mediocre Red Violin, and now a dull, studied art film, a period tale of doomed romance with no chemistry entre Michael Pitt and Keira Knightley or Pitt and other woman

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
09/08/07
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Beneath the lovely surface it's dramatically threadbare...about as interesting as one of your neighbor's vacation slide shows.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
09/13/07
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Limp satire.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
09/14/07
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It’s a perfect example of how awful direction and performances can ruin an adequate screenplay.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
09/15/07
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A problematic period movie, Silk is anything but finely spun. Unaided by lacklusture performances from the leads, director Francois Girard seems more interested in crafting a beautiful travelogue than he does a moving melodrama.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
11/09/07
James Mottram
James Mottram
Channel 4 Film

The stilted dialogue makes all of the actors sound as if they're being dubbed into English, badly, especially the English-speaking ones (Alfred Molina, looking seriously bored).

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment 2 Comments
09/13/07
Jan Stuart
Jan Stuart
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Alessandro Baricco's lyrical short novel is tentatively re-imagined as a saccharine love story with minimal depth.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
09/11/07
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly
 
 
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Latest News for Silk

September 11, 2007: Silk preview & trailer Opens in new window
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August 23, 2007: It's hard to imagine Brit beauty Knightley playing the long-suffering wife of an adulterous spouse who'd look at another woman - even if he's got a thing for a seductive geisha in faraway Japan, who happens to be the personal property of a powerful baron. Opens in new window
More...

August 22, 2007: Trailer & Poster review Opens in new window
More...

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