Four stars. Rating: PG-13, for violence and sensuality
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 2.14.14
Fans of Neil Gaiman’s novels,
particularly Neverwhere and Stardust, will adore this film.
Director/scripter Akiva
Goldsman’s luxuriously romantic fantasy offers the same mythic qualities: a
setting that’s familiar yet not quite of this world; an incandescent yet oddly witty
love story; and mortal characters — of a sort — caught within a timeless duel
between agents of good and evil.
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| Despite having broken into her home with the intent of stealing its valuables, Peter (Colin Farrell) finds his plans thwarted after meeting Beverly (Jessica Brown Findlay). Her response, to this uninvited stranger? Why, to offer him a cup of tea, of course! |
It’s such an odd concoction that
one false move — a single line of dialogue too precious, delivered with perhaps
too much smug arrogance — and the entire narrative would collapse under the
weight of its own contrivance. And yet Goldsman unerringly walks that fine
line, delivering a warm, gently humorous and richly poignant adaptation of Mark
Helprin’s massive 1983 novel.
Indeed, the first miracle is that
Goldsman has captured this huge book’s essence in a film that runs a mere 118
minutes. But perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, given his Academy Award victory
for adapting A Beautiful Mind, and his obvious fondness for historical dramas
(Cinderella Man) and speculative fiction (The Da Vinci Code, I Am
Legend).
Even so, this film’s mere
existence represents a second miracle: a most unexpected roll of the dice by
Warner Bros. Helprin’s captivating epic is the sort of story that rarely works
on the big screen.
The American public is
notoriously reluctant to embrace intelligent, adult-oriented fantasy,
preferring instead the empty calories of popcorn sci-fi action flicks. Granted,
Gaiman is doing his best to help reverse that trend, and Goldsman’s captivating
work here could help a great deal.
I frankly hesitate to describe this
plot to even a minor degree, because while not a mystery per se, Winter’s
Tale derives much of its charm from the many revelations — major and minor —
that emerge along the way. Indeed, even the casting offers surprises, all of
them pleasant.
Our most unusual protagonist is
Peter Lake (Colin Farrell), an orphan with an unusual origin, having arrived in
late 19th century New York under quite unlikely circumstances. This is, in
fact, the film’s core test: One must accept this startling, almost biblical
introduction as a foreshadowing of the storytelling style to come. Having allowed
this near-impossible weave of otherworldly thread, the resulting tapestry will
be much easier to snuggle into.
Peter grows up poor and
uneducated — a skilled thief who also possesses “a way with machines” — and
lives on the streets until taken under the wing of a Fagin-like protector,
Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe). We catch up with these two in 1916, with Peter
on the run after some sort of falling out; the furious Soames and his men are
hell-bent on cornering and then killing their prey ... slowly and painfully.
