The 1998 Elizabeth Knox novel of the same name is one of my all time favourite books. Not just mine as it turns out - the book has won several awards and been nominated for many more including the prestigious Orange Prize. It has also been described as 'unfilmable' by many.
If this Niki Caro version is anything to go by, the doubters of the world may well have been right in their assumption. It's dreadful and my heart broke when I saw what had become of this promising opportunity.
I'm not one to complain about movies which differ from their original books. This happens. I'm going to make an exception in this case and voice my discomfort on the grounds that the film is a complete antithesis to the novel. Where the written version is sensual, compelling and elegant, it's big screen spawn is hurried, forced and self-indulgent.
The first thing we hear in the film is birdsong. The second is heavy breathing. If that was the worst of Caro's attempts at sensuality that would be fine, but for some reason (which seems completely divorced from artistic merit) she insists on having pet-actress Keisha Castle-Hughes naked in every other scene. Friends of mine will confirm that I'm generally quite pro-nipple, but for a film like that, I do think that it should be justified in context of the story or themes. Or perhaps she was just feeling frisky that day.
The acting performances themselves are particularly blunt and lacking in any subtlety. Each line of dialogue is delivered with an air of over-importance which you'll understand only too well if you've ever seen bad actors do Shakespeare and suddenly realise they're about to deliver one of the bard's immortal lines.
This isn't helped at all by poor editing. Criminally fast cuts drive the film on without giving the dialogue an opportunity to resonate and leaving the viewer feeling like they're in the middle of a three legged race with one leg tied to a ride-on mower.
Words fail me when it comes to the cinematography which swings wildly from stolen National Geographic stock footage of flowers, bees and grapes growing, to grainy, muddy (dirty!) footage which I'm sure was shot on 16mm handheld cameras and then converted for the modern "talkies".
Even the colour of the wine was wrong!
Niki Caro seems to have completely misread the book and I'm alarmed at her cowardice in cutting out some might-be controversy when it comes to the angel-winemaker relationship. At the end of the day, the novel was about their relationship, not that of the man and his wife. Caro seems to have milked an opportunity to pen a larger part for Castle-Hughes.
Another New Zealand film maker is due to release a movie based on an "unfilmable" novel this year. Have a look at the trailer. I have absolutely no doubt that this will be an amazing work of cinema. Haunting and compelling. Which really goes to back up my point: I'm not convinced that The Vintner's Luck was unfilmable at all. I do wish to goodness she hadn't tried to though!
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0 1/2 Star
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