Silk
by Fran?ois Girard
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DVD details
Actor: K?ji Yakusho, Keira Knightley, Michael Pitt, Sei Ashina, Tony VogelDirector: Fran?ois Girard
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Alain Dostie
Editor: Pia Di Ciaula
Producer: Jonathan Debin
Producer: Cam Galano
Producer: Akira Ishii
Producer: Yasushi Shiina
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Japanese (Original Language); Latin (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-02-26
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Picturehouse Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Silk
DVD Review: Visually Magnificent...but Dull Script Detracts From That
Summary: 2 Stars
Well, I just finished watching Silk, and all I can think about is the hour and a half of my life I'll never get back...The scenery in this movie is a feast for the eyes, and the only pro as the dull and lifeless script made me fast-forward through most of the movie. I found the characters to be very underdeveloped, as well as the plot; specifically I had issue when Michael Pitt's character Herve develops an fixation with a Japanese concubine, which is a major reason why he makes repeated trips back to Japan (the backbone of the movie), seems very unfounded; the two have very little screen time and no dialogue, yet an "obsession" blooms. If you love historical fiction as I do, I recommend something more satisfying... like the English Patient, Zelery, Pride & PrejudiceDVD Review: Implications of Desire
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a cinematic masterpiece -- the music, the scenery, the absolutely perfectly choreographed interactions of the characters (themselves beautiful and unpretentious in their portrayals)...the subtext is rich and multi-layered -- we are given an opportunity to see how desire, in its many forms, affects individuals and others around them -- how it informs and how it inspires and at times, controls us obsessively, even blinding us from the realities that are before us -- for many reasons. If you're patient, attentive, and open to the nuances that abound, this is a rewarding, rich film that is at times brutally candid and at others, dreamily opulent with wonder. One of my new favorites...I was captivated until the last note of the soundtrack was played.DVD Review: A Story of Obsession
Summary: 4 Stars
I read the novel `Silk' by Alessandro Baricco and loved it. Therefore, I was rather wary of seeing the adaptation. But when I saw the film, I was not disappointed; the visual imagery is beautiful and the Japanese symbolism was well-related.
The location of the story is France in 1862. Herve (Michael Pitt) is convinced by Baldabiou (Alfred Molina) to travel in search of silkworm eggs in order to save the silk-making business. Herve travels to Africa and Japan. During his trip to Japan, he falls in love with a Japanese concubine. When he returns home to France, he cannot forget the Japanese beauty and continues to obsessively long for her.
The untranslated Japanese conversations allows the audience to relate to the main character, as he too does not understand the language. Keira Knightly made a wonderful `H?l?ne' but I wasn't convinced by Michael Pitt as the main character `Herv? Joncour'; the obsessive inner turmoil wasn't portrayed well on screen. Overall, however, I think the film is well-worth seeing.
DVD Review: A lifeless, listless, loveless love story
Summary: 1 Stars
Like many well-intentioned adaptations, "Silk" fails in its horrible execution. We supposedly have an adventurous silk trader, Herve Joncour (Michael Pitt), who undertakes the perilous journey from France to Japan in the mid-1800s in search of blight-free silkworm eggs that would ensure his village's prosperity in the silk industry. Married to a fetching wife and, from all accounts, in love with her, our intrepid traveler becomes obsessed with a Japanese concubine in his first trek to Yamagata. On the pretext that Japan's silkworm eggs are worth the frequent traveler miles, Herve returns to Japan to obtain yet another glimpse of his amour. We are obliged to accept that the largely lethargic Pitt traverses these thousands of miles (3 times!) by carriage, rail, ship, caravan and horseback, when it looks like he can't even get across town without being toppled by a strong breeze. Straining to evoke a Dr. Zhivago-like epic, it only succeeds at looking ludicrous. Permanently sporting a pout like a child scolded for playing with worms, Pitt mumbles in a monotone with one wooden facial expression all throughout, in perfect accompaniment to his sleep-deprived droning voiceover narration for the film's painful 110 minutes. As badly miscast and as anemic as Pitt's acting is, it is equaled, agonizingly enough, by the same lifeless performance of Keira Knightley as Herve's wife Helene. Mostly relegated to bidding Herve a spiritless goodbye whenever he departs and a spiritless hello whenever he returns, one wonders if the absence of affect and chemistry with the two was a joke on the audience that they secretly delighted in.
It may have been possible to forgive such lackluster acting if there was a story to behold. When the procurement of silkworm eggs is more riveting than Herve's infatuation with the unnamed concubine, then I know there's no redemption. I am as perplexed as those who've seen director Francois Girard's "Red Violin" in the `90s, a magnificent film that remains one of my favorites to this day. A feudal Japan of the 1800s, still closed to the west, with its warring warlords and bewildering culture would have been ripe for exposition, injecting the much-needed tensions and conflicts the film sorely lacks. To not have attempted to incorporate it in any meaningful way with the lame love story was a fatal mistake. At least, it could have given the dying plot a fighting chance. This is nothing more than another dull and dreary depiction of the white man's fantasy of the submissive, exotic female, a stereotype that really is getting old.
I'm no stranger to arthouse, but honestly, it's films like this that give arthouse a bad reputation. The fantastic cinematography in "Silk," with breathtaking panoramic shots of Japan in winter, cannot rescue this inferior film. I've seen nature documentaries on PBS with more gist and drama than this turgid exercise. Come to think of it, I've seen turtles with more passion.
DVD Review: Not much of a movie but Nude Scenes Are Worth a View
Summary: 3 Stars
Kiera has three nude scenes though the first is darkly lit, the other two of her in bed with husband are decent though short. The lead Japanese actress has a topless scene and another actress as the geisha/concubine has a FFN and long love making scene ... and both Japanese actresses are cute as a button so worth a look for fans of nudity in film. The Japan scenes are gorgeous and are interesting visually. The movie - still life - though the nudity of the actresses is nice.
Description of Silk
Based on the best-selling novel by Alessandro Baricco Silk is a visually stunning epic spanning two continents. Herv? Joncour's (Michael Pitt) devotion to his beautiful bride (Keira Knightley) is tested by increasingly dangerous trade missions in search of silkworms for his towns survival. From his journeys to Japan Herv? brings great wealth for his village but with each return to the Far East he becomes torn by the temptation of a local warlords sensuous concubine and his love for H?l?ne.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?DRAMA/LOVE & ROMANCE UPC:?794043113079 Manufacturer No:?1000036755Set in the 19th century, when Japan was closed to the West, Silk offers an unusual love story revolving around Herve (Michael Pitt), wife Helene (Keira Knightley) and the young unnamed beauty to whom he has never shared a conversation (played by Sei Ashina). With the small fortune he has made from smuggling silkworm eggs from Japan, Herve purchases a grand home in France with a nice parcel of land that is suitable for Helene's dream garden. But when the silkworms die, Herve is commissioned to return to Japan to buy more eggs so the townspeople can resume their lucrative silk-manufacturing business. There, Herve once again sees the Japanese baron's concubine who stares at him with longing but remains silent. While he is soaking in a bath, she hands him a note written in Japanese that he later learns reads, "Come back or I will die." Filled with good intentions, Silk doesn't carry enough dramatic weight to garner much viewer interest. That Pitt is American, Knightley is British, and neither attempts a French accent is forgivable. But there is little chemistry shared by any of the leads, who are undeniably gorgeous but in an impassionate and cold way. Pitt's mournful delivery and the clunky dialogue don't help matters much. Staring at their lush garden full of flowers in bloom, Helene says, "You said this is where we'd grow old. Are we old?" Near the end of the film, Herve receives another letter written in Japanese that talks at length about love, faith, and the need to go on. The sender of the letter may surprise some viewers, but the ending is more implausible than a revelation. Based on the novel of the same name by Alessandro Baricco, Silk essentially is little more than a movie of the week disguised as an arthouse film. --Jae-Ha Kim
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