![]() It's a penetrating character study, an exploration of human nature, and an ultimate triumph for forgiveness. Ultimately, it's the performances that really carry Railway Man to an effective, and moving film. The characters feel real, their traumas are real, and the film's message is always carried through. Yet, the film's restrained approach to the story showed a much appreciated respect to letting events unfold organically. One such shift was the discovery of Firth's post-traumatic stress, which felt oddly at bay at the beginning of the film. One problem that is created is that the momentum is not always carried over to the other storyline (past and present), with some shifts happening rather sporadically. The pace of the film can be slow at parts, yet dead-on in others. All performances are understated, as is the film, yet still powerful, headlined by a terrific performance from Colin Firth. Though this is a noted criticism for many, I found that ultimately the structure worked, and was impressed by the strong performances by the cast in both timelines. These are frequent, and long lasting, which create two worlds that feel very real and well realized, yet can sometimes feel like separate entities, each with their own self-contained stories. The story is told through flashbacks, used interchangeably. Enter the lovely Patti Lomax (Nicole Kidman) who pushes Eric to confront his demeans, culminating in a painful confrontation of his past. Filmed to mark the UK Cinema release of The Railway Man Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky.Eric Lomax’s 1995 memoir, tells the true story of his capture in Sin. Based on the autobiography, Railway Man tells the story of a British officer who was brutally treated as a prisoner of war, returned to his country as a man still deeply troubled, continuing the war in his own mind. Heartfelt from the start, poignant, compelling, and yet strangely subtle, Railway Man is a film of inspiration and one of melancholy, ending on a profound note, if not always achieving that during its run. The acting is very good and it moves along nicely, even if incompletely. One that I would recommend to any friend who likes dramas. Ultimately they tried to do too much in this one film.Īltogether it was a pretty good movie. The scenes between Kidman and Skarsgard's characters are masterfully done, but there wasn't time to dig any deeper into that relationship either. The Railway Man is based on a true story and, even though this movie is flawed, is impactful in many ways. Sanada and Firth's encounter is way too short and under examined. If they would have spent more time with the main characters during the war, the results would have been much better. It doesn't matter who is in these pivotal roles, with the script they had to work with, nobody could have made this chemistry work. The biggest problem is the failed attempt to create the kind of chemistry between Kidman and Firth that the writers and/or directors were going for. There are so many big names in The Railway Man that I expected it to be nothing but brilliant. But you'd have to be pretty hard-hearted not to be moved by this tale's final destination, even if the route there is somewhat circuitous.The Railway Man is a good movie with great actors that failed to hit the mark. ![]() Considering the clarity of the real-life story, it's surprising how muddled and inert director Jonathan Teplitzky manages to make things, wibbling through complex junctions and shunting into narrative sidings like an oft-disrupted train journey. Hats off, however, to Irvine, whose vocal inflections carefully prefigure those of Firth's older man, drawing the intersecting threads together even as the narrative threatens to unravel. It's not a match made in heaven while the latterday segments make specific reference to Brief Encounter as railroad love blossoms between Eric and Patti (a dowdy Nicole Kidman), the Thailand sequences have an oddly televisual air that somewhat undercuts their dramatic clout. This latest retelling, from a screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Paterson, wrestles with themes of suffering and redemption as it criss-crosses between Colin Firth's ageing Lomax living a purgatorial existence in late 20th- century Britain and Jeremy Irvine's embattled young soldier suffering at the hands of his wartime captors.
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