a bad film

Rating: 1/10 (22 May 2006)

A massive disappointment. Take a good book and stretch it out into a tedious film. Problem is, the story spans 2 decades, and in trying to cover the time period, Lee doesn't take enough time to develop characters, relationships or situations. So at no point do you care about the people on the screen. Add to this Lee's tendency to avoid any clarification of plot, leaving the viewer to fill in huge blanks, the long silences and endless brooding looks and what dialogue there is being muttered inaudibly and you are left with a boring soulless film. The only actor to come out with any real credit is Anne Hathaway playing well against type. At least the academy saw sense and didn't bow to pressure to give it the Oscar. i won't be watching anymore Ang Lee films in a hurry!