BlogCritics reviews the upcoming
The Brontës of Haworth DVD release:
Playwright Christopher Fry's The Brontës of Haworth,
a five-episode dramatization of the lives of the 19th century literary
sisters and their tortured brother televised in England in 1973 but
never shown in the United States will be available in February in a
two-disc DVD set from Acorn Media. Beginning with their widowed father's
birthday gift to the young Branwell of the set of toy soldiers which
became the inspiration for the children's early imaginative efforts as
they joined together to create a fictional world modeled on the Byronic
romances popular at the time, Fry traces their attempts to make their
way in the world, their failures and their success, culminating in the
sister's monumental achievement and early deaths. (...)
Clearly it is [Michael] Kitchen and perhaps [Alfred] Burke who are the stars of this
production. Perhaps not as oddly as it would seem in a film about the
Brontë family, much of the early episodes are concerned with the tragic
life of Branwell rather than that of his sisters. He is after all a man
haunted by demons beyond his control, the kind of fodder no dramatist
can resist. (...)
The DVD runs approximately 260 minutes. The only bonus material it
contains is a short prose essay on the Brontë's home in Haworth. (Jack Goodstein)
The Pittsburgh Stage and Screen Examiner also post about the release.
The Sundance screenings of
Wuthering Heights 2011 are reviewed:
The book itself, gives you more of a sense of inherent evilness in both
Heathcliff and Cathy. While their love might be true and intense, there
are no other redeeming qualities in either of them. This rendition does
do a great job of showing why Heathcliff becomes so embittered, which
is a bit of a departure from the book. I also loved that the director
cast unknowns in the lead roles – to me, this is what indie film making
should be about. See this movie if you have never been diagnosed with
ADD, can sit through three hours of overwrought, but beautiful
cinematography, or are a sucker for an original take on an old story. (David J. Fowlie in Keep-it-Reel)
Heights’ spartan brutality is truly haunting. However, it is
doomed to collect decidedly negative online feedback. People who go to
Brontë films do not want to see something new and different. They want
the “Oh, Heathcliff” scene on the moors. This is not that kind of film.
It viscerally expresses a host of tactile sensations, de-emphasizing
melodramatic plot turns. Despite a comparatively weaker third act, it is
a bold work that really stays with you after viewing – but due to its
nature, it is only recommended for adventurous, fully informed
audiences. (Joe Bendel in Libertas Film Magazine)
The
Daily Mail makes a reference to
Wide Sargasso Sea in an article about Salman Rushdie and Indian censorship:
Second, a writer's worth to a literary culture is not decided by how prolific she is. Jean Rhys didn't write much - five slim novels. There was a gap of twenty years between her fourth and fifth novels. As it turned out, her last one, Wide Sargasso Sea, was the one that gave her lasting fam.
The Observer complains about the lack of nominations for women directors this year:
All the women. We Need to Talk About Kevin? Wuthering Heights? Bridesmaids? New director Angelina Jolie's excellent Bosnian war drama In the Land of Blood and Honey? Dee Rees and her brilliant, cool, powerful film about black-American lesbian life, Pariah? Kelly Reichardt's neo-western, Meek's Cutoff? Oh, and guess what, Madonna's W.E.
is a thousand times better than royal borefest The King's Snooze, in
which a man spends two hours overcoming a speech impediment while Helena
Bonham Carter looks on. (Bidisha)
A Younger Theatre talks about Josie Long's
The Future is Another Place:
A hard message to sell but a vital one, and one which is thankfully
underpinned with a wonderfully original comic voice by Long, taking in
imagined feuds between the Brontë sisters, and a meeting between Ringo
and the other Beatles in which they call him up on ruining their albums
by slipping children’s songs in the middle, which had me in hysterics. (Tristan Pate)
Miami Herald reviews Gemma Hardy's
The Flight of Gemma Hardy:
Livesey works some sort of magic in The Flight of Gemma Hardy,
which is too entertaining to be superfluous, too wise in its
understanding of human nature to be a mere retread. Best of all, you
don’t have to know Jane Eyre to enjoy it, though it’s clearly an offspring of and tribute to Bronte’s work. (...)
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/29/2614173/beloved-classic-jane-eyre-gets.html#storylink=cpy (...()
Livesey fills Gemma’s journey — back to her past in mysterious Iceland,
ahead to her future with and without Mr. Sinclair — with revelations,
betrayals and surprising friendships and realizations. Gemma longs for a
home: “I never meant to be a wanderer,” she says. But: “Perhaps being a
wife was not the only choice.” Livesey takes a page from E.M. Forster
to impart her message: Only connect. Only connect — with friends, with a
lover, with family, with your past — and the whole world opens up
before you, just like that. (Connie Ogle)
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/29/2614173/beloved-classic-jane-eyre-gets.html#storylink=cpy
The Maine Sunday Telegram talks about yet another author with a Brontë past, Sarah Thomson:
Thomson grew up in the Midwest -- in St. Louis and Madison, Wis. Her
world was populated by J.R.R. Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander, Charlotte Brontë
and Jane Austen. (Bob Keyes)
And
The Spectator finds a Brontëite in Gloria di Piero (MP for Ashfield):
She has a soft spot for Wuthering Heights and Karl Marx’s Das Kapital. (...)
Wuthering Heights, in my view the greatest love
story ever. My mate Lindsey and I read it on hols in Corfu straight after we'd done our A levels. (Fleur MacDonald)
The Calgary Herald reviews the concert of the
Calgary Philarmonic Orchestra with Jeans'N'Classics:
[Jean] Meilleur performs his role of frontman cover-band capably, Leah
Salomaa’s take on [Kate Bush's ]Wuthering Heights was quite wonderful, the Jeans
musicians delivered a steady stream of rock shadings and quality solos,
and the CPO, well, even at half speed they’re still an orchestra that
can throw down with the best of them. (Mike Bell)
The
New York Post announces that Drew Barrymore will be the co-host of TCM's
The Essentials which will schedule
Wuthering Heights 1939 in the new season. Also in
the Post a brief comment about
Jane Eyre 1944 (Monday, 8 p.m., TCM):
Joan Fontaine is Jane Eyre, who in 1800s England, goes straight from an
abusive, orphans' charity school to a position as a governess to the
ward of rich, gloomy Mr. Rochester (Orson Welles). Although he is above
her station in 19th-century English society, she begins to fall for him,
and he seemingly begins to have feelings for her as well. Did you
really think it would be that easy? From the novel by Charlotte Brontë
who, along with her sister, Emily, endured similar conditions at their
charity boarding school.
The Sag Harbor Express has an intriguing Brontë reference:
As some of you might remember, I asked for chickens for Christmas, and the universe, not my husband, brought them to me. (...) Needless to say, I now have six fluffy chicks in the basement in a pet
shop rabbit cage covered with a packing blanket. Very Jane Eyre. (Paige Patterson)
Raizononline Portal posts about the Brontës (in Portuguese);
Jane Eyre 2011 is reviewed on
30diary (in Italian),
videosöndag (in Swedish) and
Oscar Completist.
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