Lalpera An ideal example how great talents are wasted in a bad directorial job! I have not read the book, because I don't read books, so don't know what was in the book. I can only say that there must have been a great story-line but which is wasted and ruined. Some actors did a pretty good job but others didn't. Exceptional one is Hugh Dancy who played Buddy. He is amazingly alive in his character and outperforms everyone else. If only his character didn't die early but spread over the entire story length, the movie would certainly earn more merit points. Patrick Wilson plays Harris quite well, giving due resilience and soberness to the character. Claire plays Anne very well too and sometimes competes really strong with Buddy's character. Mamie Gummer does a good job too as Lila. The most disappointing character is Nina's character played by Tony Collette which is really a disaster! Her performance is very annoying, so synthetic, unnatural and lifeless. She is the biggest misfit in this movie! Her boyfriend's character reflects a real joker and her sister reminds us of a zombie! Alas, the main character, old Anne played by Vanessa is not impressive either. Her performance is just painful and torturing rather than a character reflecting a glamorous youth although torn between her best friend and her charming dream man.But there are other positive sides so you have not totally wasted your time. Undoubtedly the most attractive feature of the movie is its really beautiful music by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek. I must say this is one of the best 5 scores I've ever encountered in movies. It's so melancholic, pensive and unforgettable! You will be amazed at the way he conducts the piano and violins to bring that sorrowful feeling which not only runs throughout the movie, but your soul too. Cinematography is the other most beautiful feature of this movie that captures few of the most spellbinding sceneries of our time. It blends quite fittingly and nicely with the music that leaves lingering emotions in your mind for a very, very long time!However, in the end you feel disappointed that director Lajos has failed to identify the good ones from the bad stuff. He also fails sometimes to knit the scenes together to achieve a constant, seamless flow. There is enough great acting, music and cinematography to make it a great movie if he eliminated bad actors and did a good job in editing. But he has lost a golden opportunity to make a great movie out of some great talents.

Mohamed Salem Obada Evening of consciousness comes when one barely recalls how he or she considered his/her deed in a certain situation, and if recalled, one can barely distinguish the right deeds from the wrong ones. It transpires that we are "mysterious creatures", craving things that end up as totally unimportant to us. Evening of life comes when we stop caring for life, except when we see a flying butterfly. We begin to chase it as the epitome of life that we long forgot! The wedding song tells of a lover who rejoices in her beloved one hurrying to see her in the evening after his working day is over. May be one needs some fellow creature hurrying to see him/her in their evening of consciousness that is their evening of life. This is what occurs as Lila (Meryl Streep) visits her dying friend (Vanessa Redgrave) on her deathbed. Lajos Koltai made a wonderful movie. Scenery is amazing. Cadres are fantastical. It's the type of film that one wishes to see again and again. Thanks to the cast and crew. Lovely work of art.

thomasgillis_writer The last thing I want to watch on screen is Tom Cruise leap off another tall building - I would much rather watch a thought provoking film of with legendary actresses Vanessa Redgrave, the lovely Claire Danes, Toni Collette, the late Natasha Richardson and Meryl Streep and Glenn Close fill the screen with their brilliance. Patrick Wilson is the male lead along with Hugh Dancy the son with a drinking problem in the Newport setting of a wealthy family and a marriage of their oldest daughter. The screen is filled with an era of of the 1950's and full of nostalgia in the costumes and the decor. The characters are full, rich and developed with Clare Danes getting the majority of the screen time, what red-blooded male would not enjoy her presence on film. It is a story of lost love and questions that haunt us all in this life. The filming is beautiful, the acting is first-rate and the cast is astonishing. How they assembled this quality cast together I will only guess, but they all must have seen in the script what the movie could be and is, worth an "Evening" and a DVD purchase to add to your collection, the movie reveals more of itself each time you view it. If you have a longing for an era gone by, when men were gentlemen and women were ladies, this film will take you on a trip to Newport, Rhode Island, home of the very wealthy on the East coast and through a story happening in the mind of Ann Grant in her last days, dreaming of that one evening that was life captivating and a story in real-time as her daughters Nina and Constance wait at their mother's home in her last days as she nears death upstairs in her bed and dreams of her youth and the lost love she had with Harris that weekend in Newport. Watch it with your girlfriend, wife, lover and it is sure to be a meaningful night ....

Danusha_Goska Save Send Delete What a cast. Every actress we've ever loved, short of Judy Garland, Bette Davis, and Greta Garbo is in this movie. And yet "Evening" is an awful mess. It's so bad, so inept, so misguided, such a betrayal of the acting talent of its stars, that, after forcing myself to sit through it, I wish I had never seen it. It's that much of a godawful botch and betrayal of its precious material.The production values are very high. The film takes place in two time periods: the 1950s and the present day. The costumes, make-up, and vintage cars are perfect. The lighting, cinematography, and sets are perfect.I blame the writer. The script is incoherent, pointless, and, worse, graceless. There is not one happy moment of verbal magic, or even just a moment where words do any kind of meaningful work whatsoever. What was he thinking? Really? I want to know.I feel a sense of personal betrayal by this movie. This is very much a woman's story (and I'm a woman) and a story of family (and I'm part of a family) and a story of class conflict (something familiar to me) and a story of living large and dying thoughtfully (I've been with the dying as they were working out the complicated narratives of their lives.) All these themes were handled so hamhandedly by the writer I just want to scream.Hugh Dancy, as Buddy, a badly behaved rich boy, somehow manages to rise above the wreckage, and deliver the film's one coherent character, and the one character who manages to arouse some emotion in the viewer. Toni Collette never makes a wrong move, but she's given nothing by the writer. Clare Danes comes off badly.I recommend that you *not* see this movie. Rewatch almost anything else, from "Beaches" to "Terms of Endearment" to "Sliding Doors" to "Letter from an Unknown Woman."