Lovely but easy

bole79

This is an altogether lovely film. It begins with nice title sequence and then introduces Carey Mulligan who gives a remarkable performance.

Many have said Oscar worthy. I wouldn't say that. Her appearance is mesmerizing and fresh, but I don't think it is an Oscar performance or even an Oscar-worthily written role. Mullingan plays a 16 year old girl who is very smart, literate, charming, but not experienced yet, and she plays it with great self-confidence, which goes unrealistically with her youth. And there isn't much else than confidence and serenity in this performance. I wasn't convinced. I hope Carey Mulligan gets nominated though.

The movie itself is okay, watchable but it didn't challenge me enough. It lacks freshness. It's very Hornby-like. I know he only adapted a memoir here. But the material is similarly uninspiring to his however lovely books and movies based on them. What's the message here? That appearance can be deceiving and that education is a good choice. Well, yes. So I would say a decent juvenile film with good performances from just everybody.

score 6/10

bole79 1 January 2010

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2183943/