"Beautiful Creatures" - directed by Richard LaGravenese
I have a theory relating to movies that says that it is vitally important that we fall in love with the female lead.
Maybe this is me just being a male viewer but I contend that it is not necessarily a gender specific requirement.
Pick any movie at all that you enjoy that has what is recognisably a lead female character and ask yourself if it would work if you didn't really like her.
"Pretty Woman", "Last of the Mohicans", "Spider-Man", "Star Wars".....
Odds on if you don't like the heroine you don't like the movie.
Maybe this could be construed as somewhat sexist by some but I have found it to be true for myself that a likeable, well performed lead female character goes a long way towards redeeming weaknesses in other areas.
I don't think it is therefore accidental in any way that the point during "Beautiful Creatures" at which I started to realise that I was going to enjoy the movie was the exact same moment that I started to really like Alice Englert's 'Lena'.
This despite the sometimes baffling performance of male lead Aideen Ehrenreich.
There's a danger with a movie like this one that it will be dismissed as a "Twilight" wannabe.
At face value they are similiar.
Both have a romance at their centre and are set in high schools.
Both feature supernatural elements with strong focuses on families that have a long, rich history.
Should that last line have appeared to have granted "Twilight" praise for a deep storyline it's unfortunate and completely accidental.
I'm not going to get into a Twilight-bashing session- I like that those movies have hordes of fans - I'm just not one of them.
For me the main reason that "Beautiful Creatures" works and "Twilight" doesn't is that it has a strong mythology built out of location and circumstance rather than one out of necessity.
Whereas "Twilight" requires its vampires to be able to roam in daylight because the story requires a high school setting to hit the target audience, "Beautiful Creatures" places its central characters in an environment poorly suited to them and makes it one of the great sources of conflict.
The script makes both leads outcasts in different ways.
Ethan wants nothing more than to escape the small Southern town that he feels captive in.
He chooses to read books that the library has banned - J D Salinger and Kurt Vonnegut are favourites.
There are more banned books not in the library than there are in he tells us early on.
He is haunted by dreams of a woman whose face he can never quite see.
He has ditched his vapid, blonde girlfriend Emily - a young woman who represents one feels a perfectly suitable choice for a young man in a town such as this.
But Ethan may not know what he wants but he certainly knows what he doesn't want.
Lena feels similarly out of place but for different reasons.
It should be no surprise that she is a Caster - a witch in effect.
She is ostracised and picked on as soon as she arrives in class.
Alice Englert plays Lena with a combination of wide eyed innocence and wicked intent bubbling under the surface.
It is a duality that will later come into play when the true nature of what she is is revealed.
Englert is the daughter of Kiwi director Jane Campion - you can see it once you know.
She is a lovely young woman to be sure but a lot of her appeal is in fact in her ability to retain our sympathy even when her actions defy us not to despise her.
Of course this is a love story and naturally Lena and Ethan will fall in love.
The way in which they do this is nicely handled and at times quite touching.
Alden Ehrenreich plays the intelligent and sporty Ethan as an out and out goof and is in danger of derailing things by careening into comedy on occasion.
He is quite an odd character but ultimately a likeable one worth rooting for.
Lena is not overtly sexual - perhaps mainly because she is in fact still shy of her sixteenth birthday.
Her cousin Ridley on the other hand is pure Southern sizzle.
Emmy Rossum manages to suggest a level of sexuality in Ridley that isn't allowed to exist overtly in a movie with this rating aimed at a younger audience.
The acting fireworks unsurprisingly come with the arrival of Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson.
The latter is better than she has been in some time and is clearly enjoying the opportunity to play a part that requires several layers of characterisation.
It's a thrill to see an actress of Thompsons calibre ripping into it like this.
Jeremy Irons is almost an acting style more than an actor and his portrayal of Macon Ravenwood- Uncle to Lena is vintage Irons.
Smarmy, cunning and suave with a barely contained evil glee lurking beneath a surface of sophisticated calm he is part vampire, part politician and an absolute joy to behold.
He was spectacular in "Margin Call" and his contribution to "Die Hard: With A Vengeance" has not been as recognised as it should have been.
He is one of the most reliable actors that I have ever seen and this is another great addition to his catalogue of cads.
Also unsurprising is Viola Davis' terrific portrayal of Ethan's guardian Amma.
Her long reaction shot when she realises Lena's ultimate solution to the bind the leads find themselves in is a masterclass in nuanced emotional reveal.
Every thought and each painful realisation is right there on her face.
Her major scene with Irons' Macon is another standout.
His intentions like those of pretty much the entire cast are not revealed until very late in the piece.
With a collection of terrific characters in place the Gothic tale unfolds with many a surprise.
Visually it is sumptuous - never better utililised than with the Ravenwood mansion and its ever changing colour scheme.
It's not a film that relies on effects sequences to deliver the thrills, preferring instead to invest its time in making the plight of the leads our main concern.
The set up for this late in the film produces one of those plot conundrums that often results in a groan inducing solution that makes no sense.
For me this one is perfect.
If there is a highpoint during this last period it is the wonderfully written sermon on sacrifice that Reverend Stephens delivers in setting up the final act.
It is a slick piece of writing that perfectly defines the final portion of the film.
For lack of any truly spectacular special effects sequences the climax makes do with characters whose fate I truly cared about.
I am a little puzzled by the eye-patched presence of Taylor Pruitt Vince who is woefully underused. The character appeared to be positioned for greater relevance but it just didn't occur.
Likewise Larkin Ravenwood is shortchanged.
The film is based on a book and I wonder if there are sequels that these characters come into play in*
All in all this was a very pleasant surprise and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I love the themes of destiny and fate and the flashbacks to the Civil War era are nice touches.
The love story is believable and there are more great actors in this film than you can wave a wand at.
And yes- fall in love with Lena I surely did.
Theory intact at least for now.
* Checking reveals that there are indeed three novel sequels planned - 'Beautiful Darkness', 'Beautiful Chaos' and 'Beautiful Redemption'
Maybe this is me just being a male viewer but I contend that it is not necessarily a gender specific requirement.
Pick any movie at all that you enjoy that has what is recognisably a lead female character and ask yourself if it would work if you didn't really like her.
"Pretty Woman", "Last of the Mohicans", "Spider-Man", "Star Wars".....
Odds on if you don't like the heroine you don't like the movie.
Maybe this could be construed as somewhat sexist by some but I have found it to be true for myself that a likeable, well performed lead female character goes a long way towards redeeming weaknesses in other areas.
I don't think it is therefore accidental in any way that the point during "Beautiful Creatures" at which I started to realise that I was going to enjoy the movie was the exact same moment that I started to really like Alice Englert's 'Lena'.
This despite the sometimes baffling performance of male lead Aideen Ehrenreich.
There's a danger with a movie like this one that it will be dismissed as a "Twilight" wannabe.
At face value they are similiar.
Both have a romance at their centre and are set in high schools.
Both feature supernatural elements with strong focuses on families that have a long, rich history.
Should that last line have appeared to have granted "Twilight" praise for a deep storyline it's unfortunate and completely accidental.
I'm not going to get into a Twilight-bashing session- I like that those movies have hordes of fans - I'm just not one of them.
Whereas "Twilight" requires its vampires to be able to roam in daylight because the story requires a high school setting to hit the target audience, "Beautiful Creatures" places its central characters in an environment poorly suited to them and makes it one of the great sources of conflict.
The script makes both leads outcasts in different ways.
Ethan wants nothing more than to escape the small Southern town that he feels captive in.
He chooses to read books that the library has banned - J D Salinger and Kurt Vonnegut are favourites.
There are more banned books not in the library than there are in he tells us early on.
He is haunted by dreams of a woman whose face he can never quite see.
He has ditched his vapid, blonde girlfriend Emily - a young woman who represents one feels a perfectly suitable choice for a young man in a town such as this.
But Ethan may not know what he wants but he certainly knows what he doesn't want.
Lena feels similarly out of place but for different reasons.
It should be no surprise that she is a Caster - a witch in effect.
 |
| Alice Englert |
Alice Englert plays Lena with a combination of wide eyed innocence and wicked intent bubbling under the surface.
It is a duality that will later come into play when the true nature of what she is is revealed.
Englert is the daughter of Kiwi director Jane Campion - you can see it once you know.
She is a lovely young woman to be sure but a lot of her appeal is in fact in her ability to retain our sympathy even when her actions defy us not to despise her.
Of course this is a love story and naturally Lena and Ethan will fall in love.
The way in which they do this is nicely handled and at times quite touching.
Alden Ehrenreich plays the intelligent and sporty Ethan as an out and out goof and is in danger of derailing things by careening into comedy on occasion.
He is quite an odd character but ultimately a likeable one worth rooting for.
Lena is not overtly sexual - perhaps mainly because she is in fact still shy of her sixteenth birthday.
Her cousin Ridley on the other hand is pure Southern sizzle.
Emmy Rossum manages to suggest a level of sexuality in Ridley that isn't allowed to exist overtly in a movie with this rating aimed at a younger audience.
 |
| Emma Thompson (left) and Emmy Rossum (right) |
The latter is better than she has been in some time and is clearly enjoying the opportunity to play a part that requires several layers of characterisation.
It's a thrill to see an actress of Thompsons calibre ripping into it like this.
Jeremy Irons is almost an acting style more than an actor and his portrayal of Macon Ravenwood- Uncle to Lena is vintage Irons.
Smarmy, cunning and suave with a barely contained evil glee lurking beneath a surface of sophisticated calm he is part vampire, part politician and an absolute joy to behold.
He was spectacular in "Margin Call" and his contribution to "Die Hard: With A Vengeance" has not been as recognised as it should have been.
He is one of the most reliable actors that I have ever seen and this is another great addition to his catalogue of cads.
Also unsurprising is Viola Davis' terrific portrayal of Ethan's guardian Amma.
Her long reaction shot when she realises Lena's ultimate solution to the bind the leads find themselves in is a masterclass in nuanced emotional reveal.
Every thought and each painful realisation is right there on her face.
Her major scene with Irons' Macon is another standout.
His intentions like those of pretty much the entire cast are not revealed until very late in the piece.
With a collection of terrific characters in place the Gothic tale unfolds with many a surprise.
Visually it is sumptuous - never better utililised than with the Ravenwood mansion and its ever changing colour scheme.
It's not a film that relies on effects sequences to deliver the thrills, preferring instead to invest its time in making the plight of the leads our main concern.
 |
| The massively talented Jeremy Irons and Viola Davis |
For me this one is perfect.
If there is a highpoint during this last period it is the wonderfully written sermon on sacrifice that Reverend Stephens delivers in setting up the final act.
It is a slick piece of writing that perfectly defines the final portion of the film.
For lack of any truly spectacular special effects sequences the climax makes do with characters whose fate I truly cared about.
I am a little puzzled by the eye-patched presence of Taylor Pruitt Vince who is woefully underused. The character appeared to be positioned for greater relevance but it just didn't occur.
Likewise Larkin Ravenwood is shortchanged.
The film is based on a book and I wonder if there are sequels that these characters come into play in*
All in all this was a very pleasant surprise and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I love the themes of destiny and fate and the flashbacks to the Civil War era are nice touches.
The love story is believable and there are more great actors in this film than you can wave a wand at.
And yes- fall in love with Lena I surely did.
Theory intact at least for now.
* Checking reveals that there are indeed three novel sequels planned - 'Beautiful Darkness', 'Beautiful Chaos' and 'Beautiful Redemption'
| Rated | M for themes and mild violence |
| Running Time: | 124 minutes (1hr, 57mins without end credits) |
| Starring: |
| Alice Englert | --- Lena Duchannes |
| Alden Ehrenreich | --- Ethan Wate |
| Jeremy Irons | --- Macon Ravenwood |
| Emma Thompson | --- Mrs Lincoln |
| Emmy Rossum | --- Ridley Duchannes |
| Viola Davis | --- Amma |
| Thomas Mann | --- Link |
| Eileen Atkins | --- Gramma |
| Margo Martindale | --- Aunt Del |
| Zoey Deutch | --- Emily Asher |
| Tiffany Boone | --- Savannah Snow |
| Pruitt Taylor Vince | --- Mr Lee |
| Kyle Gallner | --- Larkin Ravenwood |
| Randy Redd | --- Reverend Stephens |
No comments:
Post a Comment