Far From The Madding Crowd

First Hit:  Strong acting on all fronts and with luscious photography this was a good film but its length took away from it being better.

This long famous Thomas Hardy novel has Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene;  a woman whose parents died while she was young.

She works on her Aunt’s farm, tills the soil and rides horses like a man; meaning in Victoria England women rode side saddle whereas Bathsheba rides straddling the horse. She is very strong, self assured, independent and wants to stay that way. Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), the sheep herder neighbor, is fully smitten by Bathsheba and after a few friendly visits, asks her for her and in marriage. She is shocked and says "no", explaining she doesn’t want to be married. She ends up inheriting a large home and land. After arriving she takes charge and immediately begins to make the land profitable.

Her wealthy neighbor William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) takes a liking to Bathsheba and also asks for her hand in marriage because he wants to take care of her (“provide safe harbor”). She turns him down as well. Then she becomes smitten by handsome and reckless soldier (Tom Sturridge) who touches her in more ways than one. She agrees to be married and soon regrets the decision. He fritters away her farm on gambling and eventually confides he loves another. This leaves Bathsheba to make some difficult decisions.

The movie is lusciously filmed and many details are exquisitely shared. The cast was well chosen, however the script is a little long winded in the way this story was shared.

Mulligan is very good. She definitely has grown as an actress and reverentially delivers this character role. Her semi-smile is her strong suit as it says so much. Schoenaerts is perfect as the noble, strong, silent, friend and suitor. Sheen is fantastic as the once spurned noble neighbor that sees and wants to have Bathsheba in his life. Sturridge is great as the charming, sexy soldier that has his way with Bathsheba. Jessica Barden is wonderful as Bathsheba’s assistant. Juno Temple as Fanny Robbin is great in the small and pivotal role as Sturridge’s true love. David Nicholls wrote an extended yet colorful screenplay. Thomas Vinterberg directed this well, just a little long.

Overall:  This was a film to just watch and luxuriate in its tone and tenure.

One Day

First Hit: Disappointing overall as the chemistry wasn’t there between the leads and I couldn’t care about Dexter.

This film spans 20 years of time and neither character showed much aging.

Briefly, Emma (played by Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (played by Jim Sturgess) are college mates. The audience sees that Emma likes Dexter but is cautiously afraid of him because she doesn’t feel worthy of his good looks and charm. He is supposedly attracted to her but shouldn't be because she isn't hot enough (that's the feeling I got).

They spend the night together but without sex and the audience is to believe that there is something magical growing between them. They go their separate ways and they keep in touch phone calls and occasional dates. The passage of time is noted by the anniversary of their meeting (July 15th) continues to pop-up on the screen.

Dexter uses his charm and looks to snag a job as a TV host who is supposed to be hip. He spends all his time drinking, snorting coke, and screwing women he doesn’t care about. It isn’t that people cannot redeem themselves, but there must be something that touches the audience where redemption springs up from within the audience want him to redeem himself.

There really isn't anything. Only when he is with his daughter at the end of the film did I even begin to like the guy (and maybe that was the point – but it was too little too late). Meanwhile Emma, wanting to be a writer (poems and a novel) works in a Mexican restaurant in England (where they are both located). Ian (played by Rafe Spall) also works at the restaurant and thinks himself as a comedian. So together they are too lost souls not doing what they believe in but working together in this Mexican restaurant.

Because he is stable, and they are having this pitiful life together, he and Emma decide to move in together. This made no sense as Emma's character just wasn't that dumb to do this and yet the story has her doing this. But she’s supposed to have chemistry with Dexter (her life’s love) and there is none here as well.

As time goes by and both Dexter and Emma find their path back to each other, no matter the dialogue, scripting or scenes, there’s nothing really there between them to make me believe that is a “love of my life” relationship.

For comparison, look at Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in “The Adjustment Bureau” for an example of on-screen chemistry.

Hathaway would have done much better with someone with whom she could create chemistry with along with a director who knew how to get something interesting from his actors. I think her acting here is solid enough, but everything around her is sub-standard. Sturgess has the look of a “player” but there was emptiness about him which made his character two dimensional and not worth caring about. Spall played either did a horrible job at his clueless character or the script was equally clueless. Either way, each time he was on the screen I cringed, he resembled no one I’ve ever run into. Ken Scott (as Dexter’s father) and Patricia Clarkson as the mother were solid in their roles. David Nicholls wrote the screenplay from his book which could have been good. While the direction by Lone Scherfig never captured real characters fully and let the story flail away at drama and romance.

Overall: This film is forgettable and had little to offer in the realm of romance.