Visceral Stuff

The Economist reviews both Jane Eyre 2011 and Wuthering Heights 2011:

The two films take different approaches to the classic material. (...) Shannon Beer plays the young Catherine with a perfect mix of primal instinct and girlish curiosity. The bulk of Ms Arnold’s film is seen through the young Heathcliff’s eyes, alternating between abusive farm work and blissful escapes across the moors with Catherine (who matures into Kaya Scodelario). Among the other-worldliness of the rolling hills, their love appears entirely natural. But real-world prejudices mean that they can never be together.
The cinematography makes a star of nature; the moors feel almost tangible. The camera bristles through the heather as Catherine and Heathcliff roam the hills. Striking stills of the vast, unforgiving landscape contrast with intense close-ups of Catherine fingering a feather, or Heathcliff snapping a rabbit’s neck. This is visceral stuff, not a polished dramatisation. There is no musical score, just natural sound effects: the gushing rain, the howling wind. When Heathcliff is whipped as punishment, there is just the raw sound of leather on flesh. Ms Arnold’s interpretation of “Wuthering Heights” lacks the romance that some may anticipate, but it has a rugged beauty and packs a punch.
Cary Fukunaga’s “Jane Eyre” is a more conventional period adaptation. The characters are neatly presented in Victorian dress, politely interacting in the grand Thornfield Hall; the action is corseted in 19th-century etiquette.  (...) These roles are inhabited in quite muted fashion by Ms Wasikowska and Mr Fassbender—who recently won best actor at the Venice Film Festival for his raw performance in Steve McQueen’s “Shame”. But once again it is Judi Dench who steals the film as Mrs Fairfax, the diligent housekeeper, with a repertoire of shrewd looks and sharply comic one-liners.
This is a beautiful film in which all the elements chime together. Well-curated shots of the household provide an omniscient view of the action. These make the moments of Jane eavesdropping outside a door by candlelight, or of Rochester contemplating his demons, all the more claustrophobic. Outside in the manicured garden, the sun flickers as emotive strings mirror Jane's reverie. The film never quite reaches the tempestuous highs of the novel, but by choosing to tone down the drama Mr Fukunaga has played it safe. He has made a film that will endure; it’s a suitable and subtle tribute to a classic book. (L.F.)

The Platform talks only about Andrea Arnold's film:

Emily Brontë’s classic of love and cruelty has been interpreted in many ways. Andrea Arnold’s adaptation of the novel is definitely the most shocking and interesting version I have come across. Aside from featuring the first ever black Heathcliff (James Howson) the film plays out in a completely different way to most period dramas. Since it follows Heathcliff’s point of view, much of the dialogue occurs in the background. Imagery, landscape and the moors are brought to the forefront, and in some ways a more holistic depiction of Bronte’s novel is achieved. The style of the film therefore emerges as something completelyT modern. Whereas most period dramas spend much money and effort on décor and costume, the result of extravagant settings often makes the viewer constantly aware of the fact that he or she is witnessing something which is set a century and a half ago. Here, Brontë’s novel is made relevant, the usual barriers are broken down and the viewer begins to understand the humanity of the characters better. If, like me, you’re a fan of the Brontë yet you tire of witnessing endless disappointing adaptations of your favourite books, I recommend you track this film down. (Eyad Abuali)

The Leeds Film Festival screening is announced on indieWire and The Times and the Cornwall Festival is mentioned in the Cornish Guardian. By the way, HitFix thinks that the Andrea Arnold film is very unlikely to get any kind of awards:

“Wuthering Heights,” too chilly and foreboding even for the BIFA voters, is being held by Oscilloscope until 2012, when it will stand even less chance of wooing American awards bodies than the company’s “Meek’s Cutoff” (sort of a pictorial US equivalent) does this year. (Guy Lodge)

Chortle announces the awards of the recent Cofilmic short films festival. The History Girls' Brontë sisters sketch  (regrettably the video now seems to be private) has been awarded with the Audience Award:

Brontë Sisters
Sketch
Dir – Jacqueline Wright
Inspired by reading (not a lot of) English at University and a crush on The Marx Brothers, the Brontë sisters are one of ‘History Girls’ favourite trios of historical misfits that they’ve have turned into sketches.

The Herald arrives to the conclusion that

Gerard Butler, him fae Paisley, has acquired the lot to use in Machine Gun Preacher, an action drama with more swagger than Jagger, more rambunctiousness than Rambo, more ... well, you get the picture. Jane Eyre it isn’t. (Alison Rowat)

Alison Flood from The Guardian has been seduced by the Book Drum World Map:

What a dangerous, dangerous website. I can tell I am going to have to limit my time on Book Drum's new literary map or I'm really not going to get anything done at all. Its creators say it's the first ever crowd-sourced literary world map, and it's already packed with information from contributors, from Wide Sargasso Sea, pinpointed in Granbois, Dominica ("based on Jean Rhys's father's estate of Bona Vista") and Thornfield, Yorkshire ("Antoinette is imprisoned in the attic at Thornfield Hall, where she is to be found, as Bertha, in Jane Eyre"), to Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow in Greenland's Qaanaaq, the northernmost town in the world.

The Guardian also quotes Charlotte Brontë describing St. Paul's cathedral now in the news as the landmark of the Occupy London movement:

For Charlotte Brontë, its dome was "a solemn, orbed mass, dark-blue and dim … While I looked, my inner self moved." (Steve Rose)

Another review of Jeffrey Eugenides's The Marriage Plot in The Columbia Daily Spectator:

Eugenides, author of “The Virgin Suicides” and the Pulitzer-Prize-winning “Middlesex,” which he researched at Columbia, returns to a favorite theme in his new novel: coming of age. But he also draws heavily from the work of Tolstoy, the Bronte sisters, J.D. Salinger, and David Foster Wallace to address questions about modern love, feminism, and marriage. (Lesley Thulin)

Blogcritics interviews the author Michelle Richardson who is currently reading Jane Eyre; Reading, Writing, Revising posts about it; Friends of TED posts about Villette and announces a discussion on Saturday, November 5; The Prodigal Guide reviews Jane Eyre 2011; Lorilyn Roberts discusses Wuthering Heights.