The Aspern Papers (2018)

The Aspern Papers: Directed by Julien Landais. With Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, Lois Robbins. A young writer tries to obtain romance letters a poet sent to his mistress.

“This is a first-time directoru0026#39;s outing, IIRC. As such, itu0026#39;s usually bound to be bare-bones budget and limited sets and resources. That means a lot of people talking, or, if euro, a lot of people looking. And then on top of it, this is about some obscure, mysterious poet and those who crave to know more about him.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSomeone made a creative decision for the lead (probably the director-cowriter), ryhs-meyers, to speak as if he were speaking off the pages of henry jamesu0026#39; novel dialogue, only more robotically. It was the worst decision in this project. It repeatedly distracts and pulls us out of the story because it offends the modern ear.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOtherwise, this is a series of sparse acting gems for fans of vanessa redgrave. Richardson and rhys meyers just support the script and redgrave.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn the plus side, if youu0026#39;re in the mood for a moody, quiet, costume-rich period piece set and shot in venice, where not a single car chase or gunshot is to be found, then this will do adequately. I gave it a six for that reason. You donu0026#39;t come away from this film any stupider than you started, and that gets me at least a five these days. If itu0026#39;s about literature and costume-set pieces, then thatu0026#39;s one point in general.”