Winter's Tale
Directed by: Akiva Goldsman
Written by: Akiva Goldsman, based on the novel by Mark Helprin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, Jessica Browne Findlay, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt, Ripley Sobo, Will Smith, Eva Marie Saint, Mckayla Twiggs, Kevin Corrigan, Maurice Jones, Graham Greene, Kevin Durand
Drama/Fantasy/Mystery/Romance - 118 min
Written by: Akiva Goldsman, based on the novel by Mark Helprin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, Jessica Browne Findlay, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt, Ripley Sobo, Will Smith, Eva Marie Saint, Mckayla Twiggs, Kevin Corrigan, Maurice Jones, Graham Greene, Kevin Durand
Drama/Fantasy/Mystery/Romance - 118 min
I read Mark Helprin’s novel Winter’s Tale some years ago and it remains a favorite; there are particular scenes and descriptions I will never forget. Looking forward to its film adaptation, I was also quite sure it was unfilmable. What writer and first time feature director Akiva Goldsman did was take some parts of the novel, mainly the central love story, doused it with a ladle full of fairy tale ingredients, and gave audiences another option for Valentine’s Day cinema.
Set during three separate years, 1895, 1916, and 2014, Winter’s Tale has ample opportunity to show New York City in various building phases. Ellis Island makes an appearance in 1895 when a callous doctor turns away a young immigrant couple diagnosed as unworthy who then choose to set their infant son adrift toward shore hoping he makes it in the New World.
Peter Lake (Colin Farrell), the boy, now man in 1916 is the most wanted man in the city. It is not the cops who are after him but someone far more powerful, Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe). The head of an omnipresent gangster organization, Pearly may also have more allies than just his foot soldiers scouring every inch of the city; there are some dark supernatural forces lurking about as well.
For a 21-year-old character, Colin Farrell appears noticeably too old for the role. The movie chooses to ignore the disparity so the audience might as well play along too. To maintain a precarious balance that Pearly hints at every now and again, there are also light or good guardian angels in the city not necessarily doing battle against evil, but nudging and transporting characters where they need to be. Peter Lake’s guardian angel turns out to be a horse that delivers him to the front door of his one true love.
While robbing a palatial home bordering Central Park, Peter is interrupted by the owner’s consumptive, yet still visually gorgeous daughter, Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay). Quickly settling on the grounds that it is love at first sight, the couple is relentlessly pursued by Pearly who will not stand for such true happiness in his five boroughs. The fairly tale sets itself up as a young couple in love against evil forces attempting to not only tear them apart, but kill them.
Russell Crowe plays an effective villain; a man who considers squashing miracles and crushing souls as not just his day job, but also his guiding light. His underground outfit is a thievery racket in 1895 that would make Fagin proud, as there are stacks of illicit jewels and every other device worth any amount of coin. In 2014, large plasma screens display stock prices and young brokers on the phone occupy the same space. I appreciate that this social commentary remains in the background. Having characters discuss the transformation from low down pickpocketing to shilling stocks would only cheapen the observation.
Akiva Goldsman is known for adapting blockbuster novels into screenplays. John Grisham and Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon novels are just a few of his credits. He not only won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for A Beautiful Mind but also wrote two rotten Batman screenplays as well. Only a gifted, or overly confident, adaptor would attempt to tackle Winter’s Tale. This realistic fantasy novel about love, guardian angels, and destiny is deceptively complex. Only by splicing out a small yet important sliver was Goldsman able to fashion a film around it.
I wonder if folks would still criticize Winter’s Tale as harshly if it were an original screenplay rather than a cherry picking of a beloved novel. It’s obvious Goldsman respects the source material. However, he made a Valentine’s Day romance out of a story infinitely deeper than that. Good try, but it falls short.
Set during three separate years, 1895, 1916, and 2014, Winter’s Tale has ample opportunity to show New York City in various building phases. Ellis Island makes an appearance in 1895 when a callous doctor turns away a young immigrant couple diagnosed as unworthy who then choose to set their infant son adrift toward shore hoping he makes it in the New World.
Peter Lake (Colin Farrell), the boy, now man in 1916 is the most wanted man in the city. It is not the cops who are after him but someone far more powerful, Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe). The head of an omnipresent gangster organization, Pearly may also have more allies than just his foot soldiers scouring every inch of the city; there are some dark supernatural forces lurking about as well.
For a 21-year-old character, Colin Farrell appears noticeably too old for the role. The movie chooses to ignore the disparity so the audience might as well play along too. To maintain a precarious balance that Pearly hints at every now and again, there are also light or good guardian angels in the city not necessarily doing battle against evil, but nudging and transporting characters where they need to be. Peter Lake’s guardian angel turns out to be a horse that delivers him to the front door of his one true love.
While robbing a palatial home bordering Central Park, Peter is interrupted by the owner’s consumptive, yet still visually gorgeous daughter, Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay). Quickly settling on the grounds that it is love at first sight, the couple is relentlessly pursued by Pearly who will not stand for such true happiness in his five boroughs. The fairly tale sets itself up as a young couple in love against evil forces attempting to not only tear them apart, but kill them.
Russell Crowe plays an effective villain; a man who considers squashing miracles and crushing souls as not just his day job, but also his guiding light. His underground outfit is a thievery racket in 1895 that would make Fagin proud, as there are stacks of illicit jewels and every other device worth any amount of coin. In 2014, large plasma screens display stock prices and young brokers on the phone occupy the same space. I appreciate that this social commentary remains in the background. Having characters discuss the transformation from low down pickpocketing to shilling stocks would only cheapen the observation.
Akiva Goldsman is known for adapting blockbuster novels into screenplays. John Grisham and Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon novels are just a few of his credits. He not only won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for A Beautiful Mind but also wrote two rotten Batman screenplays as well. Only a gifted, or overly confident, adaptor would attempt to tackle Winter’s Tale. This realistic fantasy novel about love, guardian angels, and destiny is deceptively complex. Only by splicing out a small yet important sliver was Goldsman able to fashion a film around it.
I wonder if folks would still criticize Winter’s Tale as harshly if it were an original screenplay rather than a cherry picking of a beloved novel. It’s obvious Goldsman respects the source material. However, he made a Valentine’s Day romance out of a story infinitely deeper than that. Good try, but it falls short.
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