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The Dressmaker (2015) N
A woman returns to her old home town, Dungatar (love the name, by the way). As a child she was forced to leave after she was accused of killing a boy. She sets up her dressmaker's shop at her mother's house and starts to meddle with people from her past trying to find out the truth, forgiveness, maybe little love and eventually even revenge.
The Dressmaker is little uneven mess of romance, drama and comedy that could have benefited from focusing more on either its lighter or darker side. It's mix of Lynch-like townsfolk, family friendly comedy, syrupy romance and amnesia based mystery solving is too much over the place for me to get a firm grip of its intent. Also its indetermination makes people's motives quite hard to figure (especially those who were kids when Tilly was sent away).
Visually the film is feast for the eyes; scenery is gorgeous and it's yellow-brown barrenness is nicely contrasted by Tilly's colorful creations. I also liked how the opening title sequence is used to show us Tilly's past (initially I hoped it would be a cleverly made intro but it kinda failed in the end). Acting is top-notch but I'm not sure if Kate Winslet was a good choice for Tilly (she looks too old when compared to other people who are supposed to be about her age, especially Hemsworth who's 15 years younger than her).
So my main issue is the film bouncing from style to style and sort of breaking its narrative in the process. There are good scenes or parts in all the styles but in my opinion they don't work that well together. Some of the drama is really forced as well and amnesia is pretty high on my hate list when it comes to plot devices. Maybe it's just not my film because it's technically solid, well acted and has enough personality to stand out. I didn't hate it but it's just barely decent for me.
A woman returns to her old home town, Dungatar (love the name, by the way). As a child she was forced to leave after she was accused of killing a boy. She sets up her dressmaker's shop at her mother's house and starts to meddle with people from her past trying to find out the truth, forgiveness, maybe little love and eventually even revenge.
The Dressmaker is little uneven mess of romance, drama and comedy that could have benefited from focusing more on either its lighter or darker side. It's mix of Lynch-like townsfolk, family friendly comedy, syrupy romance and amnesia based mystery solving is too much over the place for me to get a firm grip of its intent. Also its indetermination makes people's motives quite hard to figure (especially those who were kids when Tilly was sent away).
Visually the film is feast for the eyes; scenery is gorgeous and it's yellow-brown barrenness is nicely contrasted by Tilly's colorful creations. I also liked how the opening title sequence is used to show us Tilly's past (initially I hoped it would be a cleverly made intro but it kinda failed in the end). Acting is top-notch but I'm not sure if Kate Winslet was a good choice for Tilly (she looks too old when compared to other people who are supposed to be about her age, especially Hemsworth who's 15 years younger than her).
So my main issue is the film bouncing from style to style and sort of breaking its narrative in the process. There are good scenes or parts in all the styles but in my opinion they don't work that well together. Some of the drama is really forced as well and amnesia is pretty high on my hate list when it comes to plot devices. Maybe it's just not my film because it's technically solid, well acted and has enough personality to stand out. I didn't hate it but it's just barely decent for me.