Bright Star
Director: Jane Campion
Year Released: 2009
Rating: 3.5
Serene biopic about the love affair between doomed Romantic poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) that ended, famously, with Keats leaving England and meeting his end in Rome (rotten consumption!). Campion, usually one to 'dress up' her pictures with po-mo hokum, actually strips this one down to the essentials, leaving a wonderful love story without pretense - sometimes, these love stories don't always turn out for the best, and sometimes memories are all we have to live on (Keats, in going to Italy, realizes he'll never return to his one true love ever again). Campion has faith that the core relationship is strong, and she's correct: this is one of the finest romantic dramas of the decade, and Cornish in particular is stunning: the young lady's moments of extreme anguish and joy are equally affecting. The silence tells the rest of the tale....
