Yes No Maybe So: A Tale of Love and Darkness
Monday, October 19, 2015 at 8:01AM
Manuel here checking in with Natalie Portman. We know her Jane Got A Gun project has been battling some sort of curse of bad luck every since it began shooting (after endless behind-the-scenes kerfuffles, it apparently comes out next February) but her other project from this year is A Tale of Love and Darkness, her directorial debut.
The film premiered at Cannes to muted (one might say mixed?) reactions. And while it has yet to be picked up for distribution, we finally got a first look at the film in the form of a(n English-subtitled) trailer. Yes, the film is entirely in Hebrew, so Portman (née Neta-Lee Hershlag) gets to show off yet another set of skills, ones slightly less contestable than her ballet-dancing ones.
And so, while I know exactly where I lie, I’m going to go ahead and give it the YES/NO/MAYBE SO treatment in full.
YES
Natalie. Her post-Black Swan career has been spotty at best (though motherhood surely factored in) so it’s exciting to see her tackle a demanding role once again. I do so love Portman in full-on dramatic mode, and she looks lovely in period garb, if better in golden hues than in those self-serious blue lensed rainy/nighttime scenes.
MAYBE SO
The film, based on Amos Oz’s autobiographical tale, follows the events leading up to the creation of the state of Israel. Oz is the little kid in the film, and even if we only had that description to go on, we’d know this would be heavy material. And it looks it, for better or for worse.
YES
Those visuals. Portman recruited Slawomir Idziak (Black Hawk Down, Gattaca, Three Colours: Blue) as her D.P. and it looks like they’ve conjured up some striking images.
NO
“Nobody knows anything about anyone, not even about ourselves.”
Maybe it’s the subtitles (and with foreign films in languages one doesn’t speak that can sometimes be a problem) but the dialogue feels almost… groan-worthy? It also seems intentionally earnest so maybe it’s a matter of seeing it so devoid of context.
YES
Whatever is happening in this slapping scene. (Though one wonders whether that’s some sort of audience surrogate moment, wherein the darkness of the film will end up feeling like emotional self-harm).
MAYBE SO
Shouldering an entire film must be hard, and do we think writing/directing & acting may be have been too much for the Oscar-winning actress? One worries since passion projects can sometimes be less than the sum of their parts.
Watch the trailer below and tell us how this Portman passion project strikes you:
I’m a YES but that’s mostly given my personal devotion to the petite American actress; the film looks visually sumptuous but rather dour. Any Amos Oz fans have anything to add? Does this augur a behind the scenes career for Ms Portman?
Reader Comments (4)
Not my type of film so prob wont see it. BUT Portman is a goddess.
Very curious about this. The cinematography alone makes it worth a big-screen trip. Though I'm a little worried about all that wet hair rainy drama.
No but it does look interesting and the images are very poetic...
I'll probably see it since I do like Natalie as I hope her next directorial feature will just have her behind the camera more.