Anna Karenina (the movie)

Speaking of movies...last night we went to see the newest and latest film version of Anna Karenina.  We got to our seats 20 minutes before the scheduled movie time and had to suffer through some annoying audio adds being hurled at us from the blank movie screen.  Did I say say "annoying"?  Make that blaring. Whatever it was, it was designed specially to annoy theatre goers, interspersed with interludes disguised as  entertainment.  Naturally we are viewed as a captive audience and God knows we wouldn't want to engage in conversation.  Then the theatre darkened and we were further subjected to a further 10 minutes of tv commercials.  Of course, this is nothing new, but by the time the movie started we had been sitting there for half an hour.  And we actually had to pay for this privilege.   When we were kids we would have hurled our popcorn and candy bar wrappers at the screen, but now we are adults so we sit there and take it. And this seems to be getting worse each time you go.  Eventually someone will get the idea that they could charge us a little more and we could only get the movie.  Oh yes, the movie.

What can be said of this new version of Anna Karenina?  Bold?  Daring?  Assertive?  Yes, all of that, but was it really necessary to dress up this old tale in new clothing?  Can't we get the definitive version?  Has there ever been a definitive version?  Other than various TV versions, we might have to go all the way back to Greta Garbo in 1935 to find anything approaching definitive.

This new version of Anna Karenina is a little difficult to describe.  Starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law and with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard, the movie literally swirls on the screen.  It's not quite a film of a play, but more a play of a film.  My daughter thought it was like a circus, with props changing and costumes being changed right on the screen.  Sometimes the characters are walking along the catwalks above the stage and the stage lights are often present.  Yes it was daring and imaginative, but definitely not for everyone's taste.  (End rant here.)  My advice: read the book instead.