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Silk (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:55
Fresh:4
Rotten:51
Average Rating:3.8/10
Consensus: Silk contains a simple love triangle story but director Francois Gerard goes to painstaking lengths to turn it into a protracted and wearisome art film.
Theatrical Release:09-11-2007
Synopsis: With SILK, director François Gerard (THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD, THE RED VIOLIN) brings Alessandro Baricco's bestselling novel to sumptuous life. Michael Pitt stars as Herve Joncour,... With SILK, director François Gerard (THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD, THE RED VIOLIN) brings Alessandro Baricco's bestselling novel to sumptuous life. Michael Pitt stars as Herve Joncour, a Frenchman who lives in a small town that has hit hard times. A local silkworm magnate (Alfred Molina) stumbles upon a solution for his town's troubles, and enlists Herve to travel to a hidden corner of Japan in order to smuggle back a boundless supply of rare silkworms. Traveling in disguise so that he won't be exposed, Herve succeeds in his mission. Upon returning home, he reunites with his beautiful, supportive wife, Helene (Keira Knightley). While Herve and Helene have a loving relationship, their inability to produce a child creates an undercurrent of distance between them. This is compounded when Herve meets a beautiful concubine (Sei Ashina) during one of his subsequent journeys, sparking a passionate encounter that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Gerard's adaptation of Baricco's novel spans several continents and many years. The production is aided by the lush imagery of cinematographer Alain Dostie and the haunting score from acclaimed composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (THE LAST EMPEROR). Featuring yet another standout performance from Molina, SILK tells an epic tale of love and loss in the 19th century. [More]
Starring: Michael Pitt, Keira Knightley, Koji Yakusho, Alfred Molina
Starring: Michael Pitt, Keira Knightley, Koji Yakusho, Alfred Molina, Sei Ashina
Director: Francois Gerard
Director: Francois Gerard
Screenwriter: Francois Girard, Michael Golding
Producer: Niv Fichman, Nadine Luque, Domenico Procacci, Sonoko Sakai
Composer: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Studio: Picturehouse
Reviews for Silk
THE new Keira Knightley film is a visual delight. Unfortunately, the dialogue is far from delightful.
A flat story, lean characters and a miscast lead make this a poor facsimile of period epics like Farewell My Concubine.
A problematic period movie, Silk is anything but finely spun. Unaided by lacklusture performances from the leads, director Francois Girard seems more interested in crafting a beautiful travelogue than he does a moving melodrama.
Sluggish storytelling enlivens neither Pitt’s infatuation with a local concubine nor the stubbornly feudal society it’s set against. Worst of all, though, you just never give a toss.
Gorgeous to look at but ultimately disappointing, Silk is let down by stilted direction, an extremely dull script and a badly miscast Michael Pitt.
Francois Girard's film proves a cross-cultural yawn, as if taking its cue from Pitt's blank-faced blandness and Keira Knightley's anaemic support.
The stilted dialogue makes all of the actors sound as if they're being dubbed into English, badly, especially the English-speaking ones (Alfred Molina, looking seriously bored).
a singularly uninvolving bit of piffle crafted as though those who made it were afraid of waking someone
The movie looks gorgeous ... but the story never really builds momentum; you keep waiting for the 'real' action to start, but it never does.
The movie is at its best as a collage of environments representing states of mind.
Failing to make a lick of rational sense, Silk grasps at poetic straws.
It is worse than a straightforward bad film, it is a middling, stagnant film that could have been extraordinary.
It is interesting and not riveting, lovely and not luxurious, good and not great. Some may even find it boring. It certainly is repetitive.
Although the period-piece film has all the trappings, from beautiful people to an obligatory sense of tragedy, it never follows through. In fact, its love story needs a shove -- it just lies there.
Here's a little game you can play if you get bored during Silk, and you will get bored during Silk: How many actors do you suppose were offered the lead role before the producers settled on Michael Pitt?
A film that manages to remove just about everything that makes soap operas entertaining.
Latest News for Silk
September 11, 2007:
Silk preview & trailer ![]()
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August 23, 2007:
It's hard to imagine Brit beauty Knightley playing the long-suffering wife of an adulterous spouse who'd look at another woman - even if he's got a thing for a seductive geisha in faraway Japan, who happens to be the personal property of a powerful baron. ![]()
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August 22, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
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