Cold Comfort Farm

A favorite film - high-spirited and funny. The cast is fantastic - this is the first time I ever saw Kate Beckinsale, and I saw a lot of bad films after this due to how enchanting she is here. This is a satire of British novels (and based on a novel) and it is the best kind of satire - created from love and deep admiration.

"I saw something nasty in the woodshed!" John Schlesinger proves he's still got it late in his career. It's divine silliness that easily could have become cloying or precious, yet, miraculously, nothing could be improved. The tone is just right, and he lets his actors, in a cast that as close to perfection as possible, do what they know how to do best. Stephen Fry makes total pomposity totally bewitching. Joanna Lumley, Rufus Sewell, Ian McKellen, Kate Beckinsale, everyone, all fabulous.

Jolly lovely really.

2 macguffins.

Schlesinger's adaptation is reassuringly faithful to the book, with most of the oddball characters and details captured with surgical precision. For the most part the casting is very good, although Beckinsale comes across rather blander than the literary Flora Poste, and Stephen Fry plays an arguably pointless role. As a standalone film? I'm not too sure it works. I think the genre satire should have been brought up-to-date because the point of it all will be lost on most modern audiences.

Netflix

This film's strongest point lies in the acting. Each member of the cast has a well-honed ability to say a lot with a few facial expressions, especially the always-impressive McKellen. The farm and the adjacent forest also allow for a lot of opportunities for well-framed shots and a chance to visually indicate character development. I still found the story dull, forgettable, and sloppily set up and resolved.

Good double-feature paired with WITHNAIL AND I

An amusing film, and I mean 'amusing' as in 'funny but not laugh-out-loud funny' not as the proper English way to say 'ever so much fun.' I enjoyed watching Flora's unstoppable meddling, and some of the character turns are charming. I really liked the ending, too. On the other hand, I found Aunt Ada and others to be slappably irritating, and didn't enjoy seeing Stephen Fry play a sexist loser.

A fairly typical BBC adaption: great cast of character actors, nice setting, and a faithful but unimaginative depiction of the book.

Stale.

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Genius!

Kate Beckinsale in brilliant in this English social comedy set in the 1930's. Outstanding cast.