Opening Day: 18 October 2007

OUR REVIEW OF THE OFFICIAL "EVENING" SOUNDTRACK

Synopsis:

'Evening' unites a stellar cast, and is based on the beloved novel by Susan Minot and adapted for the screen by Ms. Minot and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham ('The Hours'), under the direction of Lajos Koltai ('Fateless'), who was previously an Academy Award-nominated cinematographer. It is a deeply emotional film that illuminates the timeless love which binds mother and daughter seen through the prism of one mother's life as it crests with optimism, navigates a turning point, and ebbs to its close. Two pairs of real-life mothers and daughters Vanessa Redgrave and Natasha Richardson, and Meryl Streep and Mamie Gummer portray, respectively, a mother and her daughter and the mother's best friend at different stages in life.

Movie Review:

This Lajos Koltai-directed film boasts of a godsend cast which will make any filmmaker drool in envy. It includes veterans Vanessa Redgrave (TV’s The Gathering Storm, Venus), Glenn Close (101 Dalmatians, TV’s The Shield) and Meryl Streep (The Hours, The Devil Wears Prada). Also, look out for newer faces like Claire Danes (Romeo + Juliet, The Family Stone), Hugh Dancy (Blood and Chocolate, Savage Grace) and Patrick Wilson (Hard Candy, Little Children). Adding the icing to the cake are the always reliable Toni Collette (The Hours, In Her Shoes) and Natasha Richardson (Blow Dry, Asylum).

That’s enough of this reviewer’s pompous name dropping, we hear you say. But somehow, despite the star-studded cast, the drama based on Susan Minot’s novel does not shine the way we thought it would.

Redgrave plays a dying woman who reminisces about her past, and grieves the single mistake she made 40 years ago. Danes plays this character in her younger days, while Dancy and Wilson play her love interest. Collette and Richardson play this aged woman’s daughters, while Streep plays this woman’s best friend. Interestingly, Streep’s real life daughter Mamie Gummer plays the young version of this character.

If you haven’t been confused by what we are penning here, then your patience would probably serve you well in this 117-minute feature where the past and present intertwine with each other, although not to the best effect. You may be left annoyed by the somewhat contrived attempt to constantly link up the past and the present. While this approach loosens the story plot (which for the record, works perfectly well in a novel setting), Koltaj has his entire cast to thank.

A quick recap of the actors involved in this film will tell you how their performances will not go awry, even if the director could have strung the various plotlines more tightly together. The assuring looks on Redgrave, Streep and Close’s faces are already worth your ticket price. Collette and Richardson’s apt chemistry works well between the two constantly squabbling but caring sister characters. Dancy and Wilson each will have his own group of female fans, while Danes’ lyrical rendition of “Time After Time” will move your heart.

Couple that with Oscar winner Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s beautiful piano underscore and Hungaria Gyula Pados’ stunning cinematography - it is not hard not to like this film.

Most importantly, after walking out of the theatre, you’d be reflecting on the secrets you once had, the mistakes you once committed, the pasts which you wish you could change, and the unknowing future that awaits you.

Movie Rating:



(The ensemble of fine actors make this drama more than plain picturesque)

Review by John Li