Jane Campion must love REAL people. Think The Piano and My Brilliant Career. Her protagonists, often women, are not afraid of who they are or what they say, despite the conventions or etiquette of the time. Abbie Cornish is lovely in her soulful way (I've not seen her do a dud movie yet) and her Keats is equally textured, sweaty, tussled and just so believeable. You don't have to be a Keates or poetry fan to enjoy this film, although I must warn you it's quite long and not action packed. But herein lies its success. The journey we're taken on with these two lovebirds is so compelling and heart felt that you're happy for it to just go on with a few little outbursts of passion, sickness, sunshine and thunder along the way. These two have such a thirst for one another and feel such aches when they're apart. I feel that unless you've experienced this tortured kind attraction you will think these kids are simply hyperventillating and should just take a chill pill or find some other flesh to satisfy their fantasies. If you like a good love story that unfolds with a tender touch and aesthetically pleasing imagery as a backdrop to real characters who don't easily fall into cliche, then you'll enjoy Bright Star (take some snacks and empty your bladder before you get in!) I give it 3/5.
Not much actually happens in this film and yet I was totally engrossed from start to finish with butterlies in my belly to boot. The tenderness was very real and drew me in completely. Also loved that Jane managed to cast kerry Fox as the mother. Kerry was a wee young thing in campion's first film An Angel at my Table.
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