By Haley Costen
Staff Writer
Akiva Goldsman’s “Winter’s Tale” may entertain some Valentine’s Day movie-goers Friday, but lacks deeper meaning and satisfaction.
It’s definitely a love story, as its cheesy tagline (“this is not a true story, this is true love”) proclaims, but tries and fails to be much, much more.
Perhaps I’m at a disadvantage because I did not read the 1983 Mark Helprin novel which it is based on, but I have a feeling most viewers are in the same boat. The novel is also 768 pages long according to goodreads.com, and it appears that Goldsman tried to cram too much in one film.
The movie starts in early 1900s New York and follows burglar Peter Lake, played by Colin Farrell, who is on the run from Pearly Soames (Russel Crowe), the leader of a gang he used to run with. Also, staying true to its fantasy elements, the film tries to pass Farrell off as a 20-something-year -old (you wish, Colin).
Just as Peter is about to be killed by Pearly and about a dozen other weapon-wielding bad guys, he runs into a white horse that recues him and becomes his guardian throughout the film.
Pearly, along with Humpstone John, the random wise Native American character played by Graham Greene who gives Peter advice and is never seen again (and yes, that is his name) both mention that the horse can turn into a dog—in fact, Pearly insists on calling it a dog throughout the film, yet it does not do so once.
However, the horse does make a great wingman, not just because it actually flies later in the film, but because it suggests to Peter that he rob the house of a beautiful girl suffering from tuberculosis, played wonderfully by Jessica Brown Findlay. You can guess what happens next: he doesn’t actually rob her and they fall in love at first sight.
Of course every love story comes with complications (as if tuberculosis wasn’t enough), and Russell Crowe’s character soon makes a plan to break them up and murder them. These complications span generations, and Peter is left in a modern world, completely lost until he realizes his purpose in life with yet another sick young girl.
There’s a lot of talk of miracles and a fight between good and evil throughout the film. It becomes clear early on that Pearly is a demon, and the horse is some sort of angelic figure, but I couldn’t understand why the main character was so important and why Pearly wanted to kill him so badly.
The film felt rushed, and its attempts at humor were painful. The one part of the movie that actually made the audience laugh was the surprise reveal of the actor who plays the devil.
You could actually find a more realistic (and enjoyable) winter’s tale in Disney’s “Frozen.” Seriously, Disney has a better message about “love at first sight” than this movie.
