BRIGHT STAR
4 out of 5 stars

it is SO refreshing to actually see a movie that articulates love as this lyrical, beautiful, natural thing, rather than the usual lust-driven, typical boy wants girl, hollywood bullshit we are fed every year around valentine’s day/the month of february… (i am happy to say that I’m ending the month of february with this one—don’t expect me to review a romance themed movie any time soon. jina lee needs a break!)



so, where does the beauty come from, you ask? where should i start? the lush English countryside scenery? the beautiful dresses worn/designed by fanny brawne? or simply…john keats’ poetry? well, i’ll start from the beginning… this movie focuses on the three year relationship between romantic poet john keats and his muse, fanny brawne. john keats moves in next-door to the brawne family at wentworth place, with his friend, charles brown, and the two of them meet in a salon style discussion about…poetry. as we know from history, john keats ultimately dies from tuberculosis at age 25, which makes it even more heartbreaking… however, australian filmmaker jane campion (director of the piano and portrait of a lady) gives us a glimpse of how wooing a lady and a love affair based on words in letters, not sex, is done by a true romantic. (no pun intended! i swear…) take for instance, a very poignant scene where john and fanny recite each verse of his poem, bright star, by candlelight, the night before he leaves for italy: (it would be the last time she sees him alive…)


Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--


Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night


And watching, with eternal lids apart,


Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,


The moving waters at their priestlike task


Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,


Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask


Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--


No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,


Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,


To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,


Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,


Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,


And so live ever--or else swoon to death.


watch it and weep… i know i did, and i know if you don’t, YOU HAVE NO SOUL!!! (kidding, of course…) and, if you’re not into the whole idea of romance, just watch for the witty back-and-forth between arrogant/condescending charles brown and the equally arrogant/strong-willed fanny… ;)