Romance and poetry have no time to sag
CommentMay 31, 2010
Bright Star (2008)
82
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:150
Fresh:123
Rotten:27
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: Jane Campion's direction is as refined as her screenplay, and she gets the most out of her cast -- especially Abbie Cornish -- in this understated period drama.
Theatrical Release: May 15, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $4.3M
Synopsis: The drama based on the three-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age... [More]
Starring: Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish, Kerry Fox, Paul Schneider
Director: Jane Campion
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REVIEWS FOR BRIGHT STAR
Gorgeous and anchored by a flinty performance from Abbie Cornish, it's a mystery as to why this Jane Campion period piece fades away rather than catches fire.
May 13, 2010
High-Toned, Tragic, Exalted Soap
Apr 13, 2010
Janet Patterson has come up with an exquisite wardrobe for Fanny that magically suits both the biographical back-story and Cornish's fine physique. Let's hope Oscar agrees.
Feb 25, 2010
The plot doesn't have much to go on, so much is imagined but not demonstrably true, with acting, production design and period costume hopefully covering for accuracy.
Jan 14, 2010
Has a disarming quality to it, depicting a romance not as torrid waves of drama but as something that is born awkward and steadily gains its holding.
Jan 12, 2010
A movie in the inimitable PBS Masterpiece Theater style. John Keats falls in love, gets TB and dies. At least there are no Exxon commercials.
Jan 4, 2010
The film appears to be flirting with the idea of superficiality and romance and wit and depth of character but never really explores any tack at length, except the agonies of their love.
Dec 29, 2009
An intoxicating and intelligent romance film with strong fleshed-out characters that defy all the clichés and pulpy attributes that usually plague this genre.
Dec 28, 2009
This is tragic young love in all its overwrought glory and agony. This is not the reserved, stylish sort of love one seen in Jane Austen's works.
Dec 27, 2009
Oh Bright Star, wouldst thou were a great film... but thou art not. Thou art good but bitsy.
Dec 23, 2009
But the film is more about the impact of love on both their lives than about the impact of his poetry, which wasn't widely recognised until after his death. Life's a bitch.
Dec 18, 2009
Like a bright star that shines from the heavens, Jane Campion's film about the doomed love between the poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne is exquisitely beautiful, but keeps us at arm's length.
Dec 18, 2009
The most perfect film of the year.
Dec 18, 2009
Your heart will break, your head will swoon, and you will hope against hope for a happy ending that history will not permit.
Dec 17, 2009
One of the year's pleasures for the eyes, mind and heart -- a bright star indeed.
Dec 17, 2009
Jane Campion's film is as lyrical as you might expect but it's also enlivened with a bracing air of irreverence.
Dec 17, 2009
Equal parts a lovely daydream and heaving, lovelorn sobs, Bright Star is something of an intimate masterpiece.
Dec 16, 2009
I think it's her most restrained film, in a lot of ways. It's very classic. It's very poetic. It embraces Keats poetry in the making of it.
Dec 16, 2009
Campion takes her time to tell her tender story, but the film rewards with a conclusion I found incredibly moving. This is certainly one of the best films of the year.
Dec 16, 2009
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