I did not enjoy this film, I enjoyed the story, but this particular telling of the story was not enjoyable for me. The story itself is based off of and named after the play The Cherry Orchard written by Anton Chekhov. The story is centered on a Russian noble family trying to hold onto an estate. Actually they don't actually try to hold onto the estate they just party and worry about losing the estate until they do. My reasons for not enjoying this film are not because the lack of action, I in fact enjoyed the narrative, but the way it was portrayed in the film was very unengaging. Which is odd since you would think that a film being shot around the idea of being both a theatrical play and a movie would be more stimulating, and perhaps it could be, but this film did not achieve this. In its attempt to be a theatrical play and a movie it loses elements of both. The audience performer dynamic for example you lose that sense of the audience watching you as you act is gone as well as the feeling of seeing the actors sweat while they do it all in one take. A film can't do this and it's not expected to. A theatrical play also has to rely on the fact that you can't fix things in post-production. However I do not dislike the film because of these elements.
I dislike the film because of the terrible pacing, and the wooden acting, among other things. The first act of the film does not set up the characters or really even tell you who they are or what their names are. Although I wouldn't be surprised if they do in fact mention all the names and who they are in relation to each other, but with all the chaos, and the muttering, I'm not sure how I could figure it out without a guidebook. And while a film does not have to tell me all of the characters names, plays usually do, at least the ones I have gone to give you a little pamphlet telling you about who the actors are and who they play. The middle section of this film feels slow and painful so there is little build up for the delivery at the final parts of the film. This might be somewhat due to the narrative of the film but the acting exacerbates these negative elements and doesn't really let the stories good points shine through. Because of the mindset this film was directed in the actors act and talk spontaneously throughout the film, but apparently the attempt to give it feeling and impact was forgotten which makes the sudden spontaneous over acting feel wooden slow and really takes me out of the film. Most, if not all, of this film's good points are towards the end and it was absolutely not worth the wait (although the films ending need some serious work as the effectiveness it had was lost). If this review is very disjointed take that sense and try to multiply it by 11 that should be about how the acting feels like. The real cruel irony of this film is that it tries to be a film and a theatrical play and fails at being both. I do not recommend this film but I do recommend going out and seeing it done in a theatrical play.
I dislike the film because of the terrible pacing, and the wooden acting, among other things. The first act of the film does not set up the characters or really even tell you who they are or what their names are. Although I wouldn't be surprised if they do in fact mention all the names and who they are in relation to each other, but with all the chaos, and the muttering, I'm not sure how I could figure it out without a guidebook. And while a film does not have to tell me all of the characters names, plays usually do, at least the ones I have gone to give you a little pamphlet telling you about who the actors are and who they play. The middle section of this film feels slow and painful so there is little build up for the delivery at the final parts of the film. This might be somewhat due to the narrative of the film but the acting exacerbates these negative elements and doesn't really let the stories good points shine through. Because of the mindset this film was directed in the actors act and talk spontaneously throughout the film, but apparently the attempt to give it feeling and impact was forgotten which makes the sudden spontaneous over acting feel wooden slow and really takes me out of the film. Most, if not all, of this film's good points are towards the end and it was absolutely not worth the wait (although the films ending need some serious work as the effectiveness it had was lost). If this review is very disjointed take that sense and try to multiply it by 11 that should be about how the acting feels like. The real cruel irony of this film is that it tries to be a film and a theatrical play and fails at being both. I do not recommend this film but I do recommend going out and seeing it done in a theatrical play.