22 year old psychology graduate who has no life and watches way too many films. My favourite movie actors are John Cusack, Johnny Depp, Kevin Spacey, and Jude Law. Although I also like Daniel Craig, James McAvoy, Clive Owen, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Christopher Eccleston. I like quirky films, films which make you think, fantasies, British comedies, ghost films, and cheesy old horror films- especially Stephen King adaptations.
Lame, dull, unmemorable- don't bother , 12 June 2008
Bee Season
on DVD (2005) Starring:Richard Gere, Juliette Binoche, Kate Bosworth Director:Scott McGehee, David Siegel Certificate:
I was rather disappointed with this film. I'd like to point out that I tend to enjoy films which focus on decent acting and script, rather than flashy special effects and the like. I like sad themes, interesting characters and relationships, bittersweet humour etc- for example, Little Miss Sunshine, Lost in Translation, Martian Child, Forrest Gump etc. So I really thought I would like this.
Unfortunately there is definitely something missing from the film as a whole. Frankly, it was boring and I found myself clock-watching after the first hour. Films with little plot can sometimes compensate for this by having wonderful characters and a quotable script, but this didn't have those either. I found the characters one-dimensional and they failed to move me, even though it's clear that was the aim of the film.
The director tries hard, and there are some nice little touches, mainly revolved around the spelling bee. For instance, when Eliza is trying to spell origami, a bird landing on the windowsill turns into an origami bird in her mind. This makes the spelling seem magical and even fun. For the most part, however, the director and the actors have so little they can actually do anything with, due to the blandness of the writing. It's not that the writing is bad as such- it's just very, very dull. It lacks sparkle. I'm sure with perhaps an extra sub-plot and a better script, this film could have been more of a success. There's a decent film hidden in there somewhere, but it needed more work.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
