Rating of
2/4
Puritan hierarchy threatens romantic melodrama
Indyfreak - wrote on 08/27/20
Widely criticized upon its original release, this adaptation of the Nathaniel Hawthorne story initially tricks you. The cinematography is gorgeous, the John Barry score is excellent, and the money’s there onscreen.
The first act is decent. All the characters are introduced and even the romance begins sincerely enough. I believed that Oldman and Moore were falling for each other.
But then halfway through, a wildly out of place sex scene happens. There’s a red spirit bird that I guess represents their lust(?) or something. When Robert Duvall enters the story, you forget he was even a factor and his performance is oddly kooky. It just gets weirder and sillier.
It does at least try to address a lot of ideas ranging from conformity vs. individuality; piety vs. hypocrisy; and racism and revenge and there’s misunderstandings. It’s trying to say a lot and for a steamy period piece, it’s long. It’s well past over two hours.
It’s not really the trainwreck as been derided, as there’s exquisite production details and some solid performances from
Gary Oldman and Demi Moore. But it’s still messy.
