The Reader

I loved the visuals and the performances within this movie. Kate Winslet was gorgeous and the movie was well done. That is, until the last 20ish minutes. There's something about it that just left me extremely unsatisfied and angry at multiple people in the movie.

I love how the movie told an irregular and would be considered inappropriate love story, and yet told it so beautifully. I always appreciate the occasional slice of life from someone else's perspective rather than society's.

The Reader is not one of those light movies that you can fit in to your afternoon as a way of relaxing and doing the Sunday crossword to. As others have mentioned, it is a film which benefits from being in the right mood.

Despite my disposition towards the final 20 minutes, the film brought tears to my eyes and I would be happy to see it again.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the ladies come in high on the ratings for this one and the guys...well, maybe not quite as high...

This is a serious movie, heavy in story line and relationships, and really quite good. In fact, I absolutely loved the movie, but even I'll admit that you should be in the proper mood to enjoy it. It's a deep, emotional, tale of two people who really just weren't destined to be together, after all is said and done.

It is, however, a story of true love, and the story line will get you involved from the get go. Love the historical context and the backdrop of of Nazi Germany, which really was an important component of the story, but not a central focus of the movie at all.

Personally, I found this movie to be boring. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I didn't appreciate the the characters nor am I saying that this movie is a borefest, but I did find this movie just a bit too slow for my taste. The story depicts an affair that takes place over the course of one summer. Throughout that summer, a young boy is able to learn about his lover and gain some insight into her world, however he doesn't really see the whole picture yet. At time progresses, he grows up to not ever hear from her again...UNTIL...he sits in on her trial. Hanna (Kate Winslet) is put on trial and information that only the young boy knows can set her free. Will he use it to set her free or not? The movie is a sad depiction of the post WWII era and gives some insight to the viewers about the hardships and times of the people from that time. Great performances throughout the movie, but just a bit too slow for my taste.

Beautifully executed by Kate Winslet, this haunting tale is surrounding an affair around an older woman and 15 year old boy. Some say it was an excuse for softcore porn, but the editting and connection between the two characters go far beyond a summer romance. These two fall in love. She leaves him ubruptly and they are not reintroduced until he watches her trials on killing Jewish immigrants during the Holocaust. She does not know that he is there, and he soon realizes that what she is charged with is wrong. She is on trial for writing orders to burn Jews in a church, but you then realize her whole life she was unable to read so she wouldn't have been able to. Her pride gets the best of her and she is taken to prison for many years. The young man, now in law school, grows up, has a family and divorce, but still thinks of her. He begins to send her tapes of him reading books and she learns to read in prison.

Now, I am not the emotional type, what so ever. I actually more of a cloudy, sarcastic type of person, but you better believe that I was crying when she began to read. Winslets dedication to this film really put her on the map for me. I mean, after Titanic, I was all "Where's my girl Kate?" Well, I can not WAIT to see Revolutionary Road becaus Kate knocked my socks off with the Reader. Definitely one of my favorites this year.