Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Film Review - The Dressmaker (2015)

The Dressmaker is written and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (who also made the 1991 Australian film Proof with Hugo Weaving and Russell Crowe) and is based off of a book, the story here concerns Tilley (Kate Winslet) returning to her country hometown after being sent away as a child and it is that troubled childhood that she is determined to address whilst home again.

The Dressmaker is a fun watch I felt but not without some pretty big problems but before I delve into those I want to talk about what I do like about this movie and that is predominantly the first 2 thirds of the running time which were fun, quirky and anchored by a strong storyline worth following, Winslet is also superb in her role and not just because she did well with the Aussie accent but I also loved that her character was very strong but also feminine and it is a real pleasure to watch her here.

But it's not just her that's good, Shane Jacobson, Shane Bourne, Hugo Weaving and Liam Hemsworth are also pretty good as well, Liam in particular was surprisingly effective and it reminded me of when his brother Chris played James Hunt in Ron Howard's Rush 2 years ago in that he became more than just another hunk but also a good actor, I hope he does more roles like this one in the future.

However much like Baz Lurhmann's Great Gatsby film also from 2013 the third act of this film is very problematic and again much like that film the key problem for me is that it tries to strive for a more emotionally resonant tone that the film as it played out before me which was more of this dark quriky comedy mystery doesn't really earn all that much and it was during this part of the film that I began to get bored with it.

Which leads into my other major problem with this film and that is it's simply too long, the film plays out in a way where you are led towards a natural conclusion an endpoint and you begin to think "well this was fun but it's time to go home" but then the film starts up again with this really pointless subplot and I just kept thinking to myself "What does this have to do with the film I'm seeing" and that was when I just lost my patience with this film despite for most of its running time I was enjoying myself.

And so that was the Dressmaker, for its first 2 thirds its good fun but its last act brings the whole show crashing down like someone pulling the plug on a real life fashion show, 2 out of 5.

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