A sumptuous romantic drama, Out of Africa spans continents and partners in while relating the tale of how Karen Blixen grew to become the world-famous author.
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10/01/03
Out of Africa (1985)
61
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:31
Fresh:19
Rotten:12
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: Though lensed with stunning cinematography and featuring a pair of winning performances from Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, Out of Africa suffers from excessive length and glacial pacing.
Runtime: 2 hrs 41 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Adapted from Isak Dinesen's novel, OUT OF AFRICA, this film plaintively tells the story of two troubled adults who meet and fall in love in the African wilderness. Karen Blixen-Flecke (Meryl... [More]
Starring: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Klaus Maria Brandauer
Director: Sydney Pollack
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Reviews for Out of Africa
Maybe the problem of the pacing is simply the nature of the beast these days with expensive period pieces. Once the difficult details are all in place, it may be too much to expect a director to resist milking every scene for more than it's worth.
01/28/08
Top CriticLush, intelligent epic.
05/28/08
A lyrical and meditative movie about a strong-willed woman and the place she loves.
08/22/04
With the exception of Miss Streep's performance, the pleasures of Out of Africa are all peripheral -- David Watkin's photography, the landscapes, the shots of animal life -all of which would fit neatly into a National Geographic layout.
05/20/03
Top CriticOut of Africa is a great movie to look at, breathtakingly filmed on location. It is a movie with the courage to be about complex, sweeping emotions, and to use the star power of its actors without apology.
01/01/00
Top CriticOut of Africa captures, beautifully and bittersweetly, the last exciting time in the last wild place on Earth, making me feel as if I really missed out on something wonderful by being born too late.
01/01/00
Sydney Pollack applies craftsmanship and restraint to a classic plot curve of longing, fulfillment, and loss, and although the denouement is a bit overextended, he never yields to facile, insistent sentimentality -- his effects are honestly won.
02/05/07
Top CriticBloated and tedious, Pollack's attempt at epic cinema is hampered by failure to provide any clues about the meaning of Africa for Dinesen as writer and woman, and Watkin's cinematography is impressively exotic in the manner of National Geographic.
07/28/06
Despite a long-winded approach to moviemaking, Out of Africa is a sumptuous romantic epic with a wonderful lead performance from Meryl Streep.
12/27/06
The film is so preened and self-satisfied.
02/20/08
Meryl Streep trots out a classic performance in this 1985 Oscar-winner about Isak Dineson/Karen Blixen, a writer who lived in Africa for a short time and experienced all manner of adventure and heartache, dutifully recorded in this Sydney Pollack epic.
05/19/05
The film runs for 161 minutes and does not have a strongly defined narrative.
01/28/08
Out of Africa is, at last, the free-spirited, fullhearted gesture that everyone has been waiting for the movies to make all decade long. It reclaims the emotional territory that is rightfully theirs.
02/20/09
Top CriticDull biopic of the strong-willed Danish writer Isak Dinesen.
03/25/08
For all that it may come out of Africa, the film's final destination is not many miles from Disneyland.
01/26/06
The movie is not drama and far from a compelling romance. Needless to say, the prestige and technical polish on display here were enough to win this flick a passel of Oscars.
01/28/08
As the Academy found before awarding it seven Oscars, it is easy to be seduced by the lush cinematography and Barry's score. More difficult to tolerate is the slushy love story between Streep and Redford.
01/28/08
beautiful but overrated
02/07/05
Epic filmmaking at its most lushly romantic
10/10/02
Latest News for Out of Africa
May 26, 2008:
Sydney Pollack dies aged 73
Academy Award-winning director, producer and actor, Sydney Pollack, dies aged 73. More...
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