FAR AND AWAY
A film review by Craig Good
Copyright 1992 Craig Good
By now nearly everybody has heard that Ron Howard's FAR AND AWAY is the first film to be shot in 70mm in nearly twenty years. I'm happy to report that it looks wonderful (if you don't see this in 70mm you'll be sorry). I'm even happier to report that the gorgeous cinematography is completely at the service of the story.
FAR AND AWAY gets of to a bit of a slow start, but by the time the action moves from Ireland to Boston and the second act kicks in it really works. The last act is nearly all done literally on the run. I saw the film in a sleep-deprived state and it kept me awake, alert and interested all the way through.
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman each turn in excellent performances. Cruise infuses his character with real fire once the script catches up with him in Boston. Kidman gets the more interesting role of the character who goes through the most changes, and she's equal to it. They both create thinking, feeling, believable characters who fall in love on the way to their dreams. The screenwriting and direction show respect for our intelligence as they let the love story play out almost entirely in the subtext, a most refreshing thing in a world of how-about-breakfast-and-what-was-your-name-again movies.
Their physical attraction is clear, but then who wouldn't be attracted to people who look like Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman? By bypassing the nearly requisite and quite misnamed "love" scene Hollywood loves to dish out when writers don't want to think, Howard, Cruise and Kidman deliver the much more romantic and interesting process of two people learning to love each other in spite of, and at times because of, their faults and differences. The love story is woven through the process of reaching the Oklahoma land rush, and the independence that owning land represents. Just like so many real people, they occasionally lose sight of the goal and get sidetracked. As strong characters, the conflict only makes them stronger.
Howard's direction also delivers humor, action, and a world peopled by desperate eccentrics. His America of the late Nineteenth Century is at once welcoming and frightening, dangerous and full of promise. The casting is good all around, and fans of "Hill Street Blues" should get a particular kick out of Nicole Kidman's screen parents. FAR AND AWAY is a film which, if you are at all interested in seeing, should be seen on the biggest screen and in the best theatre you can find.
--Craig
P.S. If this review shows signs of being late, it's because I had the
wrong address for our beloved moderator when I first sent it.
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