Review №2

Finding Neverland

Directed by        Marc Forster

Produced by       Richard N. Gladstein

                            Nellie Bellflower

Written by          David Magee

Based on            The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee

Starring               Johnny Depp

                             Kate Winslet

                             Radha Mitchell

                             Julie Christie

                            Dustin Hoffman

Music by             Jan A. P. Kaczmarek

Cinematography     Roberto Schaefer

Editing by           Matt Chesse

Studio                   FilmColony

Distributed by      Miramax Films

Running time       106 minutes

Country               United States

Language            English

Budget                 $25 million

Box office           $118,676,606

Plot

A Scottish playwright J. M. Barrie lacks for inspiration after his play “Little Mary” got negative reviews. He is bored with trite themes for plays and is looking for something extraordinary and new. At the same time, his relationship with his wife is getting worse and worse though they try to keep it from anyone else. One day, while walking in the park, Barrie becomes acquainted with Sylvia and her four young sons. He is attached to this family and becomes a father figure for them, especially to Peter, who wants to grow up as he believes it is easier to bear all troubles when you are an adult. Barrie finally finds new source of inspiration in the person of this boy and begins to write a new play “Peter Pan”. In spite of Producer Charles Frohman’ belief that it will be doomed to failure, the playwright decides to put it on the stage. Meanwhile it is found out that Sylvia suffers from indentified disease and it turns to be incurable. As a result she is not able to see the play which proves to be successful. However, Barrie wants to show it for her and presents an abridged production of it at home. Soon Sylvia dies, but now it seems that she just goes to Neverland which she saw in Barrie’s play. Later, Barrie finds that her will is to have him and her mother to be the guardians and conservators for her sons; an arrangement agreeable to both.

Direction

The film is directed be very successful German Swiss filmmaker  Marc Foster known as a director of 23 James Bond film for many of us. He proves to be the professional and expert in the field of movie making. I think that “Finding Neverland” is the brilliant example of versatility of his talent. I think we may feel Foster’s own unique manner of film directing while watching this movie. This direction is a striking example when both direction and actors’ performance are equally great.

Actors’ performance

As for the performance, I think that the cast is superb. I believe that the choice of actors can’t be more suitable as it is. It makes the movie worth watching and really entertaining and suspenseful. Johnny Depp again proves to be an actor of great and very diverse talent. Through his impressive filmorgrophy we may see him sometimes as a naïve man; sometimes as an example of black humor…Nevertheless the most outstanding feature is his charisma. In “Finding Neverland”, he has wonderful talent to show his character as a very serious man on the one hand but with very childish soul on the other hand. As for Kate Winslet, she is my favorite actress. She has both outstanding acting skills and aristocratic appearance…In this film she is associated with a rose in its blooming – she is so beautiful, dignified and pure. Although I always will remember her primarily as Rose from “Titanik”, we can’t call her “an actress of one role” because of her ability to “re-embody”.

Costume Design

It must be mentioned about costumes, they are gorgeous! They are perfectly suitable for this or that scene in the movie and make us  feel more deeply characters’ feelings and form our own opinion towards it. It is the first time for me when I pay so much attention to the costumes and finally realize their importance and reasons for the choice of them. Great choice of music which is added to great actors’ performance, brilliant direction and well fitted costumes make the film very suspenseful.

My impression

 There is no doubt that everything I have mentioned above is really impressive and creates the feeling of contemporary film masterpiece. I believe it is really so. It is great, inexpressible fairy tail which you want never end. It totally “swallows you up” for 106 minutes, creating the new, unknown but so pleasant world around you and all your family (this film is very suitable for family watching.) Although the movie is a graphic example of drama, it represents a specific sort of it – a drama of our life without flattery or unnecessary pomposity. We see people from high levels of the society as ordinary people with their own sorrows…the theme which is raised here also perfectly describes the idea which we often discuss on our classes (on our Pleasure reading class “First Night” in particular) – we see a masterpiece, but we have no idea how much it is cost for the author. Though I suppose that "Finding Neverland" is probably not to everyone's taste, but I personally like it.