Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

danska Surprising such a talented director could put out such an unwatchable film. The one star I granted it is for fast-forwarding to enjoy looking at Paul Schneider, the only sign of life in the whole thing. Did anyone do screen tests before casting? Abbie Cornish's sullen, dead-eyed expression and zero star power, combined with lack of chemistry with Ben Wishaw, doomed it from the start. I was intrigued at one point by an a cappella version of Mozart's Serenade in B Flat; unfortunately that was also horribly done. How ironic that the love affair of a romantic poet would produce such a passionless yawn of a film.

cinemaniac2002 I had the pleasure of attending a screening of Bright Star with Director Jane Campion and rascal Mr. Brown (Paul Schneider) - who, by the way, is even more handsome in person. I thoroughly enjoyed this quiet, elegant and romantic film. It is the embodiment of romance in every way possible. This story really seems to capture the essence of John Keats and the tragic love affair that was cut short with his only true love - Fanny Brawne (played brilliantly by Abbie Cornish). It is heartbreaking to watch how this relationship progresses, from the hostility and jealousy of his friend, Charles Brown to the physical frailty that Keats endured. It is a Romeo and Juliet scenario in the sense that their inability to be together was based upon the moral code of the as yet to become Victorian era.The film provides great insight into the astounding beauty of Keats' poetry that is emotionally moving well beyond his years. Fanny's steadfast and pure devotion is doomed, but she never wavers. Like him, she has the soul of an artist and her chosen outlet is clothing design. There has been speculation as to whether Brown had sexual feelings for Keats. Reading between the lines it appears as though that may have been the case. Every so gently, Campion touches upon this first through Brown's seemingly unfounded jealousy of Fanny. During one scene, Brown maintains that he has failed Keats and goes on to say that he was never aware of how much Keats had wrapped himself around his heart. However, Campion is adept at subtlety, perhaps unlike any other filmmaker. The gentleness with which she tells this story does not provide any obvious explanation for a man to be so vehemently opposed to a friend's love for a woman. It is also easy to be entranced by the romance in this film and get swept into the love between Fanny and Keats so as not to see the subplot clearly. Brown's love for Keats is an interesting aspect of the story - but there is no direct and actual evidence of a triangle. But if you watch closely, it may become more obvious than could be realized.

efaldk-349-274444 For anyone who has studied English literature, the name John Keats is well known. He is one of the finest and most celebrated of the romantic poets from the beginning of the 19th century, and besides the fact that he wrote he wrote brilliant poetry, his personal biography personifies most of the important features of the romantic age: The poor poet who devotes his life to art, but is not appreciated by the critics or the public until after his death. A passionate love affair that cannot lead to marriage, because he is unable to support a family. Finally his death at a young age (25) of tuberculosis - the "romantic disease".The film takes place over a period of three years. The main theme of the film is the passionate love story between John Keats and Fanny Brawne. When they first meet Keats is 22 and Fanny is 17. Keats has moved into in a cottage near the Brawn family with his mentor and friend Mr. Brown. Their love develops slowly, because Keats is painfully aware that he is not a suitable match for a young girl of a respectable middle class family, and so is Fanny's mother. Fanny is a cheerful girl who likes to dance and sew fine dresses, and Keat's poetry does not immediately appeal to her. Keats moves back and forth from the cottage and Fanny, but being apart only makes their feelings stronger. They write passionate love letters to each other, and when they meet again, they cannot hide their feelings, and decide to get engaged. Shortly afterwards Keats falls ill with tuberculosis, and is advised to move to the warmer climate of Italy. Keats dies a few months later in Rome.Jane Campion is an excellent film director and besides "The Piano" from 1993, "Bright Star" is her best film so far. Her biggest achievement is the visual beauty, and the dreamlike quality of the film which matches Keats' poetry perfectly, but it is also a very modern film with people of flesh and blood, who share passionate kisses and warm embraces.

James Hitchcock "Bright Star" is a filmed biography of the poet John Keats, concentrating on his romantic relationship with Fanny Brawne during the last three years of his life. The story opens in 1818 when Keats and Fanny are introduced to one another while he is staying at the Hampstead home of his friend Charles Brown, and ends with his death from tuberculosis in Rome three years later. The title is derived from a sonnet by Keats named "Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art". (I keep the original spelling). The poem is believed to have been inspired by that romance and, although the reference in its opening line is clearly to a literal star, not a metaphorical one, Fanny has become known as Keats's "bright star".Recent years have seen a glut of films based on the novels of Keats's older contemporary Jane Austen, and these may have served as the inspiration for another film with a literary theme set against a Regency background. The film was directed by Jane Campion, who has made a number of other films with a literary or historical background, such as "An Angel at My Table" (a biography of the writer Janet Frame), "The Piano" (set in 19th century New Zealand), and "Portrait of a Lady" (based upon a novel by Henry James).As portrayed by Abbie Cornish, Fanny is a young lady of good family, obsessed with fashion and with creating dresses, hats, and other garments for herself. She is also flirtatious and seemingly shallow, a strange match for the more intellectual Keats. Another possible obstacle to their union is that Keats comes from a relatively humble background and fears that, because of the difference in their social standing, Fanny's family will not welcome him as a prospective match for her. As the film progresses, however, we begin to see more of Fanny's more serious side, and she and Keats fall deeply in love.I didn't care much for Ben Whishaw's performance in the first film I saw him in, "Perfume" from 2006, but he has certainly improved as an actor since then, on the basis of both this film and "Brideshead Revisited". Here he plays Keats as a rather quiet young man, externally aloof and reserved but deeply passionate underneath.As one might expect of a film from Campion on this particular theme, there is little in the way of physical action; the film deals more with emotional states and with the growth of love between Keats and Fanny. Like a number of British period dramas, the film is not only visually attractive but also sensitive and poetic and, in its tragic conclusion, deeply moving. A most enjoyable evening's viewing. 7/10