Reaching for the Moon2013
Reaching for the Moon (2013)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Reaching for the Moon's uptight sensibilities sometimes play more pretentious than poetic, but solid performances and sumptuous photography leave a lingering longing for love in the tropics.
Reaching for the Moon Photos
Movie Info
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Cast
as Elizabeth Bishop
as Lota de Macedo Soares
as Mary
as Robert Lowell
as Carlos Lacerda
as Margareth
as Dindinha
as Malu
as Jose Eduardo Soares
as Joana
as Clara 5 Years Old
as Clara 5 Years Old
as Clara 8 Years Old
as Crioulo
as Dr. Jorge
as US Ambassador
as Ambassador's Wife
as Captain of the Ship
as Woman on the Ship 1
as Woman on the Ship 2
as Hospital Doctor
as Clara's Mother
as Samambaia's Handyman
as Bar Tender
as Jose Eduardo's Nurse
as Taxi Driver
as Dock Porter
as Construction Worker Park
as Construction Worker 1 Samamnbaia
as Construction Worker 2 Samambaia
as Housekeeper Samambaia
as Children 1
as Children 2
as Children 3
as Man in Train Station
as Night Club Singer
as Night Club Piano Player
as Night Club Base Player
as Night Club Drum Player
Critic Reviews for Reaching for the Moon
All Critics (35) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (23) | Rotten (12)
Attention is retained by the commendably unhistrionic leads, who convincingly etch the pair's enduring devotion even when passions run dry.
The life of American Poet Laureate Elizabeth Bishop furnishes surprisingly vivid emotional material in Reaching for the Moon.
It's hard not to admire the intentions of a movie that depicts two exceptional women living exactly the way they wanted, together, outside the expected societal norms of the time. But the tone of the film itself feels unfortunately conventional.
If Blue Is the Warmest Color is the gloriously messy supernova of this year's lesbian dramas, this is the J. Peterman catalog version: elegant, tasteful, and two-dimensional.
A classy, grown-up drama.
Despite its worthy subject, this feature by veteran Brazilian director Bruno Barreto has a bluntness that's at odds with Bishop's personality and work.
Audience Reviews for Reaching for the Moon
An irregular story, at times melodramatic and full of those clichés that plague most biopics (despite a nice speech scene that sounds relevant even today when it comes to dictatorships), with characters who seem like mere drafts and never become complex enough to make us care.
Super Reviewer
With her suffering from severe writer's block in New York City in 1951, the poet Elizabeth Bishop(Miranda Otto) decides, as her friend Robert Lowell(Treat Williams) would put it, to take the 'geographical cure' by traveling to Rio de Janeiro to visit her friend Mary(Tracy Middendorf) from Vassar. There, she finds but is not shocked by Mary being involved in a romantic relationship with Lota(Gloria Pires), a wealthy architect, who lives in the country. Then, Elizabeth literally and figuratively bites off more than she can chew, by beginning an affair with Lota, while Lota promises Mary a puppy, no wait, to adopt a baby if she will stay. Once upon a time, the director Bruno Barreto made a wild movie called "Dona Flor and her Two Husbands" about a unique relationship. Now, he returns with "Reaching for the Moon" which is also about an intriguing relationship(the movie could just as easily be called "Dona Lota and Her Two Wives") which is grounded in reality and a true story with relationships and performances that ring true.(In fact, nobody does flustered better than Miranda Otto.) At the beginning, Elizabeth seems inexperienced but gains confidence and grows as a person throughout the film. A lot of that has to do with her creative input and success, as the movie also serves as a fine look at the creative process, both poetic and architectural, with a fine use of modernist design.
Super Reviewer
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