Review

Review Date: 4-October-09
Spoiler Rating: High
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Bright Star (2009)

The title "Bright Star" sounds like a calling card for an actress ready to break into the big leagues, and Abbie Cornish, star of Jane Campion's period love story, takes full advantage of the opportunity. Playing Fanny Brawne, the immortal girl-next-door of doomed poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw), Cornish is stunning in her joy and devastating in her grief. She even dazzles during quiet moments between these polar passions (of which there are many since Campion is overfond of people staring out the window). The plot is simple and not as wrapped in society or manners as other nineteenth-century films. Miss Brawne is a clever, outspoken young woman with a passion for designing clothes. Her habit of sparring with a neighbor (Paul Schneider) brings her into contact with his friend Keats and an attachment develops. Writing letters and holding hands are revealed as highly romantic activities. Whishaw has the scrawny, soulful look we expect of poets and rock stars; too wan to be worthy of Cornish's lushness, he nevertheless complements her. Sadly, their love is not so removed from external expectations that the issue of money (or Keats' lack of it) fails to present an obstacle. A plague of the era, tuberculosis, also haunts their steps. This grants the movie a suitably poetic ending and allows Cornish to prove that a star blazes brightest in its darkest hour.

Copyright © 2009 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.