By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Susanne Bier
Country: czech_republic, france, united_states
Year: 2015
Running time: 109
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2402101/combined
Kyle says: “First name SERENA, married name Pemberton. Serena Pemberton: Is there a more perfect name for a character from 1929 played by Jennifer Lawrence? The man who proposes to her within moments of seeing her for the first time, saying ‘I think we should be married’, is played by Bradley Cooper. They are two of the most capable and charismatic cinematic icons of recent times — that rare combination of outstanding actors and genuine movie stars. The camera embraces them with an intensity that can be frightening, and we want to learn more about any character they choose to inhabit. Even when those characters prove unworthy of their time or ours.
“SERENA, which was directed by Susanne Bier, whose IN A BETTER WORLD received both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, had the misfortune to come between SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK and AMERICAN HUSTLE. As a consequence of the success and visibility of Lawrence and Cooper, and the superiority of the other two titles, the film has only recently been released. It is an odd only fitfully interesting story, referencing numerous other better films such as COLD MOUNTAIN, LAWLESS , THERE WILL BE BLOOD, McCABE & MRS. MILLER and HEAVEN’S GATE.
“The classic standoff between the individual and the system, between lone entrepreneur who has mortgaged his soul and a syndicate of rich capitalists who have none, is never really developed and does not ultimately pay off. This character-driven tale abandons characterization when it is most needed for unconvincing plot contrivances. The seemingly unstoppable Mr. and Mrs. Pemberton, who respectively hunt for local panthers and train eagles to retrieve snakes, are stupidly undone, by his crooked bookkeeping (and an astonishingly idiotic moment of trusting the key to his safe to the wrong man), and her sudden rabbit-out-of-the-hat mental fragility that collapses completely when she suffers a miscarriage. They turn into a backwoods Smoky Mountains version of Lord and Lady Macbeth without a hint of Shakespearean grandeur.
“With Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper left muddled, radiating inward instead of outward, Rhys Ifans, Toby Jones and Ana Ularu do what great character actors often do: They create a vivid impression and walk away with the movie. We are left admiring the dreamy atmospheric cinematography by Morten Seborg, the Production Design by Richard Bridgland, Art Direction and Set Decoration by Martin Kurel and Graeme Purdy respectively (Someone deserves an award for getting the Depression Era paper currency right, something virtually unheard of in period movies, as collectors of old bank notes will attest.), and particularly the evocative melancholic music score by the wonderful Johan Söderqvist, whose KON-TIKI was one of the best scores of 2013,
and whose LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is one of the classic soundtracks for a vampire movie. SERENA should have been so much better; this is a real disappointment. 3 cats
“Wednesday, August 19, 2015, on Netflix, New York”