sergei-soares I decided to watch this film because I am a fat middle-aged dude who has the hots for Gemma Arterton and also because I had nothing better to do. I never read the book (I did not even know a book existed). I was pleasantly surprised by the film. After thinking it took a while for the picture to get off the ground I found myself quite interested. Gemma Arterton's character is actually the least interesting - she is a boring slut - but the others more than make up for it. Tamsen Greig and Jessica Berden's characters were really great and helped the narrative never to lose its swing. The plot was quite interesting and kept my attention even at 2 am.Not the greatest film in history but quite worth it if you do not have much else to do.

Sindre Kaspersen English producer and director Stephen Frears' nineteenth feature film which was written by British playwright and director Moira Buffini, is an adaptation of British illustrator, newspaper cartoonist and writer Posy Simmonds' weekly comic strip which was published in The Guardian in 2005 and re-published as a graphic novel in 2007. It premiered in the Out of competition section at the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival in 2010, was screened in the Shows section at the 37th Telluride Film Festival in 2010, in the Special Presentations section at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival in 2010 and is a British production which was shot in Pinewood Studios and on location in Dorset, London in England and produced by English producers Alison Owen and Tracy Seaward and Dutch-born producer Paul Trijbits. It tells the story about Tamara Drewe, a journalist in London who after her mother passes away returns to the place where she grew up to sell her mother's house. After arriving in Ewedown, Tamara, who is significantly changed due to a nose job, turns the head of all the male residents and upsets all the female residents. She is reunited with a local peasant named Andy Cobb who she once had a fling with, but after a short stay she returns to London where the famous rock band Swipe is holding a concert to do an interview with drummer Ben Seargant. The concert doesn't go quite as intended, but to Tamara's great fortune she gets the drummer's attention and he agrees to go with her to Ewedown for the interview. Back in Ewedown two adolescent girls named Jody and Casey who are fans of Ben Seargent notices that the man of their dreams is in their village and are not too happy about seeing him with Tamara Drewe, so they decide to do something about it.Finely and engagingly directed by British filmmaker Stephen Frears, this fast-paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints, draws a surreal portrayal of the profound effect one single woman has on the inhabitants of a village in the English countryside during one year. While notable for it's colorful and atmospheric rural milieu depictions, fine production design by UK production designer Alan McDonald, cinematography by English cinematographer Ben Davis, costume design by Irish costume designer Consolata Boyle and make-up by make-up designer Daniel Phillips, this dialog-driven and narrative-driven comedy-drama contains a fine score by French composer Alexandre Desplat. This sarcastically humorous, somewhat romantic and literary story about a countryside village that is turned upside down after a charming young woman returns, is impelled and reinforced by it's subtle character development, cogent narrative structure, colorful characters, interrelating stories, quick-witted dialog and the fine acting performances by Welsh actor Luke Evans and British actress Gemma Arterton, English actor Dominic Cooper, English actress Jessica Barden, English actor Roger Allam and English actress Tamsin Greig from the great ensemble cast. An involving and multifaceted character piece.

miss_lady_ice-853-608700 The current IMDb rating is harsh, and inaccurate. Whilst the film might be messy in structure or focus, it always remains entertaining and even emotional.The graphic novel that this film is adapted from is a modernisation/ comic variation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel, Far From The Madding Crowd, and for fans of the novel, it's particularly entertaining to see how they took elements of the novel and transposed them to the modern day. In this film, the beautiful cosmetically-enhanced Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton) returns to her home town, where she was the ugly duckling. She becomes torn between farmer Andy (Luke Evans), whom she had a fling with in her teens, and rock star Ben (Dominic Cooper). Andy is of course the equivalent of sturdy farmer Gabriel Oak and Ben is the equivalent of dashing Seargeant Troy. The updating works quite well, particularly in the case of Ben. Both Andy and Ben are believable caricatures- remember, this is a comic version of FFTMC. Wessex becomes a small rural town called Ewedown, where nothing happens and the kids are bored out of their mind.Readers of the novel will wonder where William Boldwood, the spare part in what is really a love triangle, is. This is where the film departs from the novel so those of you who haven't read the novel can breathe a sigh of relief and those who have read it can tentatively read on. The spare part in this film's love triangle is Nicholas Hardiment (Roger Allam), a paunchy middle-aged crime novelist and serial cheat. He and his wife Beth (Tamsin Grieg) run a writer's retreat, which provides a good chance for satirical comedy, though it seems to belong in another film. Hardiment is based more on Thomas Hardy than William Boldwood, and so we get many allusions to Hardy, particularly from American academic Greg (Bill Camp), who pines for Hardiment's wife.Thought that that's a lot of characters? Well, you get even more: two interfering schoolgirls who meddle in Tamara's love life. The pivotal Valentine in the novel is now an email sent to Andy, Ben and Hardiment.Taken all that in? Here's my opinion then. Despite the apparent clutter, this is actually a lightly funny film, and in some parts very moving. People have criticised Gemma Arterton for being too 2D but I think she convincingly portrays a vain beauty who enjoys her power over men. Tamara is an object, rather than a subject. The most interesting characters are Hardiment (played to slimy perfection by Roger Allam), Beth (a sympathetic portrayal by Tamsin Grieg) and Greg (a tragicomic performance from Bill Camp). The trailer leads you to think that the film is all about the young people, whereas much of the enjoyment lies in the Hardiments' disintegrating marriage. The schoolgirls provide humour but they're not entirely necessary.All in all, this is a fine film, of particular interest to Hardy fans. It's a much better modernisation than Trishna, that's for sure.

Thorsten-Krings This is an odd film which ultimately bored me. It was marketed as a comedy which it really isn't although it has its funny moments. Tamara Drewe is a drama about a woman who was un ugly duckling as a girl and now returns as a stunner to her home village. However, this is not your usual quirky British rom com but a film about a woman who has a certain tendency for self destructive behaviour and wants attention from men because her dad left her. That is occasionally painful to watch. Arterton does not really shine in her role as she mostly has a fairly minimalistic approach to acting and ficial expressions (or rather a lack of them) that suggest early Botox treatments. The supporting cast however is great and especially Allam gives a hammy but delightfully sleazy performance. As for the story I found it a very unsatisfactory mix of drama and comedy with the drama being too realistic for the comedy and the comedy too goofy for the serious drama issues. The only really funny moment in the film is literally the last minute when a song is played that suggests that the hapless groupie actually did get her wicked way with the drummer of an indie band. The underlying love story is so obvious that I won't even mention it.