Better Late Then Never

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Look, Howards End is a competent, mildly intriguing Merchant Ivory production about the paranoia of the wealthy. Mostly though it's over 2 hours of proof as to why I don't and have no desire to watch Downton Abbey. Posh people have quietly regal discussions, a sudden outburst of drama temporarily disrupts the nobility, repeat.

Producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory return, again, to the source of their greatest commercial triumph (E.M. Forster, author of 'Room With A View'), but this time have chosen a novel which doesn't lend itself well to screen adaptation. The customary virtues of other Merchant-Ivory productions are all here: the handsome period setting; a graceful and witty screenplay; tasteful direction and so forth, but every grace note is undermined by Forster's awkward scenario and sometimes labored plotting, often requiring key characters to disappear for long stretches of screen time. In the end Ivory tacitly admits defeat by using portentous slow motion effects to make a dramatic point, a technique best left to Hollywood hacks with music video training. Saving graces include appearances by a luminous Vanessa Redgrave, and Anthony Hopkins showing his true range after being lauded for his one-note performance in 'Silence of the Lambs'.

Having already seen A Room with a View and loving it, I saw Howards End having a feeling it would be good. After seeing it, I absolutely loved it, and think it marginally better than A Room with a View. Directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant and written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, it is a remarkably faithful adaptation of the novel, and on top of this is also an elegant, nuanced and fascinating film.The period detail is perfect. What I loved about A Room with a View especially was its gorgeous Italian settings. Here it is just as gorgeous, while also having a certain elegance about it. You can never go wrong with beautiful scenery, wondrous costumes and elegant-looking locations, Howards End had all three of those. The music is also a marvel, beautiful, haunting and hypnotic, somewhat reminiscent of a Phillip Glass score, while having a few snatches of Percy Grainger and Beethoven too.The script is very faithful in style to the book and warmth and depth is given to the characters, and the direction is sensitive and nuanced very like how it was in A Room with a View. The plot is quite complex, even on first viewing I found it a little hard to keep up with everything. Then again, this is the sort of film you may need to see more than once. It is quite slow moving, and at over 140 minutes hard to sit through in one sitting, but the period detail, music, screenplay and acting made the film pleasurable, elegant and even moving.Speaking of the acting, the whole cast give very strong performances, while not standing out from one another. Emma Thompson is endearingly-beautiful in Howards End, more beautiful than she looked in Much Ado About Nothing, and gives a moving and spirited portrayal of Margaret. Helena Bonham Carter delivers one of her best ever performances in this film, a performance filled with depth and passion that really wants to make you feel for her character. Vanessa Redgrave while her role is brief still leaves a lasting impression in a characterisation that is moving and wholly relevant, while as the cold Mr Wilcox Anthony Hopkins who a year later would give a brilliant performance in The Remains of the Day(another stylish and nuanced film) shows what a fine actor he is as he gives yet another fine performance. The more minor characters were also very well done, from a spirited Samuel West, whose character Leonard Bast exemplifies the low expectations of the clerking classes, to a suitably serious Jemma Redgrave as Evie Wilcox.Overall, moving, elegant, nuanced and impeccably acted, Howards End is a must see. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

So subtle, yet so very clever. There are some films you watch again and again just because you like them, or something about them. Even if you don't think them among the best ever - they're one of your favorites. This is not that. There are others you really have to watch several times just to penetrate the layers of things hidden - multiple meaning and real subtext. Modern film goers aren't used to this. Many find even the idea of intelligent films that require your intelligence to watch them, a foreign concept. This is one of those.Now mind you I'm not saying this is a hard film to watch, it is not. It's extremely easy to watch, and very enjoyable - if you like people (or at least the idea of liking people). If you don't like people, you probably won't like this or any period piece. This movie actually has something to say, which is easy to miss. Meaning if you stay on the surface of it, it's very easy to take for granted - looking at the lovely and missing the principles and truths on display. Attention is something you have to Pay, and some are simply not willing to do that. They feel the price of the ticket should have covered it.If you love excellence then you'll love this film, because it it is filled with excellence. It's not fast paced like a thriller, but not a single moment of the film is wasted. All the transitions from scene to scene are seamless, and every scene is full. The language here is the language of relationships. With one of the stronger underlying themes being that of the Biblical law of reaping what you sow, and accountability for one's actions.Pay special attention to where the film begins and the offense (morally) that occurs there, where the film ends - and who is given what would have been theirs (at least in part) had the right thing been done instead of the offense, and the way that it all comes about. Which is part of what causes you to not notice it. Believe me, it is so subtle pretty nearly everyone misses it. In an almost altruistic sense the story comes full circle by ending exactly where it began. Watch how the inanimate objects of an umbrella, a sword, and a house participate in the flow of events, and thereby the direction of lives. This is probably the most nuanced film you'll ever see, and it is a masterpiece . . . fullgrownministry.com