Boring, infuriating, awkward adaptation and a complete waste of talent. And setting: the story is set in Virginia but shooting took place in Louisiana. The shots of the large trees and sunlight streaming through them were just glorious. Colin Farrell’s brilliant as usual.
Wife said that she saw the 1971 version which scarred her as a 5-year old. I won’t watch it any time soon but even a reading its plot suggests that Coppola favored creating this ‘atmosphere’ for the first three quarters of the movie, only to end up boring the shit out of us with the self-indulgence and weirdness: there’s a scene where two kids frisk and frolic in a way I am positive kids did not in the 1860s, before suddenly and somberly getting back to drawing water from a hand pump. Feels weird, doesn’t make sense, adds to nothing. There are plenty of these.
Pacing: Everything’s resolved in the last 15-20 minutes.
We’ll re-watch Lost in Translation next.