emuir-1 The first meeting of Dylan and Caitlin was allegedly in a pub in 1936. She had already built up a notorious or legendary past depending on your viewpoint. At 15 the girlfriend of Caspar John until she was seduced by his father, the famous painter and scandalous Augustus John, and became his mistress. She had as they say, been around the block a few times a free spirited bohemian before her time. Eventually Thomas and John came to blows outside a public house and she moved on to Thomas and there began a 13-year drinking and public brawling session as the selfish and self-absorbed couple mooched off anyone they could find to support them and helping themselves to whatever took their fancy. Caitlin was a beauty, no doubt about it, and Sienna Miller does justice to her.SPOILER AHEAD The film concentrates on one fairly brief relationship, that of Dylan and Caitlin's friendship with Vera Killick, an old flame of Dylan's from Wales. They became quite close, living next door to each other in Wales. The fact that Vera was supporting them on her husband's army pay might have been the main reason for the closeness. All good things come to an end, and the soldier husband is shipped home with shell shock, only to find his wife the subject of local gossip and the paternity of her child in doubt. After finding that his wife had emptied his bank account supporting the Thomas's drinking sessions, he goes to the pub to find Dylan holding court with a bunch of effete pseudo intellectuals who are loudly voicing their uninformed opinion on who is really doing the fighting in Greece. A fight ensues after which he takes out his anger by shooting up Dylan's borrowed flimsy cottage, which must be the only building in Wales not to have solid stone walls. The friendship ends when Dylan accuses Cpt. Killick of attempted murder and he stands trial, but the local jury sympathizes with the wounded soldier coming home from the war to find his wife having an affair with a louche freeloader, a possibly illegitimate child, and using his army pay to support the freeloader and his family. He is therefore found not guilty.Perhaps one day we will get a film showing their 13 years together. This one was spoiled for me by Keira Knightley, one of those overrated actresses whose popularity totally baffles me, and her truly awful off key singing. Why could they not have dubbed her voice, or was Vera supposed to be a two bit singer.

phd_travel With a WW2 setting, a famous poet's story and good leads this movie should have been a really good one. I am a fan of both actresses Keira and Sienna and they do look quite lovely here. Keira looks most beautiful when she isn't smiling. She is a surprisingly good singer and it's quite fascinating to watch her sing. The Blitz parts are quite sudden and effective. The down side is the story itself isn't very pleasant. This love triangle is a bit painful to watch. I understand it is based on true events but the characters are realistically flawed. The mental breakdown of Cillian Murphy's character is quite frightening. And Keira's acting is quite good here. Sienna is alright too although her role is simpler. It shows Dylan Thomas in quite a realistic self centered way. Matthew Rhys is good as the selfish poet. I can see why the movie wasn't more successful. The story is unpleasant. The screenplay relied too much on rushed dialog to lay out key plot elements and it was hard to grasp what was happening sometimes. Maybe the direction could have been clearer when establishing the story lines and major events.

graestella The amount of cigarettes smoked in this film reached ludicrous proportions. Despite wartime rationing there seemed to be continually one on the go with every character, apart from the babies. it was so silly after the first hour or so I began to laugh out loud. Was the film funded by Imperial Tobacco or Forest ? If it was the BBC must be held to account.Did concerts really take place in bomb shelters ? Did soldiers really take Sten Guns and grenades and live ammo home on leave ? Did British women really wear trilby hats ? This looked like 21st Century boho chic, not the 1940's. The scene were the paratroopers jumped out of the Dakota with the Stens in their hands was really silly. They would have lost them in the slipstream. Also I'm sure no one actually appeared to be wearing a parachute.Without the crypto lesbian stuff this film would have had no interest at all. Even with it there was next to none. It seemed added to add tabloid prurience to an otherwise deathly dull film. The acting was actually quite good. It just seemed that the script was total pants from start to finish. I actually felt sorry for the cast by the end who all deserved better than this.

tedg I'm increasingly aware of two kinds of ordinary narrative. One is simple storytelling. However well done it is, the point is to display a life changed without changing that of the viewer. Another is a powerfully constructed machine designed to fundamentally touch the viewer. It depends both on real shared passion on both sides (maker and viewer) and sharp design.Projects like this try to bridge the profound gap between them. The story itself is linear and uncomplicated. The camera and method are invisible as usual for these. But the subject is a great artist. You surely know he is by his or her fame and in some cases you will have been touched by that artist outside of the story.The power of your experience (or what you imagine could be) is inherited -- or hoped to be.Inetrestingly, I compare this movie to "Nora" and the comparison is striking because the two writers Dylan and Joyce stand rather like the two kinds of movies. Which is most powerful depends on the size of your table, appetite and hunger.I thought "Nora" was far better because it understood better the notion of body and poetry, sex and powerful writing. Women as the sea, as more than a drink but something you immerse in.There is an effective scene here directly addressing the embodied poem and the body itself. And then birth and war. Clear, obvious unaffecting."Nora" on the other hand had a much deeper scene along these lines that I will never forget. It is simply Nora having breakfast and her robe falling open when it shouldn't matter. Because it is Joyce, it burns.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.