Bright Star (Friday, October 9, 2009) (142)

This movie tells the story of the last few years in the life of romantic poet John Keats and his love affair with Fanny Brawne. As the story opens, Keats is living with Charles Armitage Brown, a one-time merchant and now romantic poet and bon vivant. Brown is a boorish man who has no refined qualities, especially not with his neighbors in the Brawne household next door. Nonetheless, when Fanny hears of the arrival of Keats, by then a somewhat known poet, she goes to see him and immediately falls in love with his gentle, loving attitude toward the world.

Keats has no money and no income and, despite being seen as a handsome and talented man, is totally unacceptable as a husband for Fanny. They continue to flirt and fall in love, even as he gets sicker and sicker with tuberculosis.

As only director Jane Campion can do, this movie is much more about atmosphere and visual beauty than it is about characters or story. In fact, the movie is quite dull and the two-hour run feels more like three hours. Most scenes contain a minimum of dialogue and seem like filler, rather than actually telling me something I need to know to advance the story. At times, the narrative goes off into directions that mean nothing - like Brown's affair with his parlor maid - that are totally distracting and unnecessary. There is a 'romantic' quality to the visual style of the film - it does look beautiful, actually - but most of these plastic elements feel get frustrating and boring after awhile.

Cinematographer Greig Fraser deserves a lot of credit for making southern England look bright despite its frequent dreary wetness. There are lovely blue-green-gray colors throughout the film that contrast nicely with the lighter, sunnier colors of the few scenes where Fanny and Keats go walking in nice weather. Campion does deserve some credit for this as well, of course, however she seems to lose control of the story - mostly in the script - and isn't able to pull it together for a tight plot.

The acting is nice overall - Ben Wishaw is good as Keats and Abbie Cornish is compelling enough as Fanny. But the real achievement is Paul Schneider - one of the best young actors working today - as Brown. He is obscene and funny and vulnerable and proud all at the same time. His northern or Scottish accent is wonderful and helps make him more of a beast in our minds. His performance is the best part of this otherwise tepid film.

Stars: 1.5 of 4