My Week with Marilyn - quick review (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

"My Week with Marilyn" is a film featuring the memoirs of Colin Clark, who details the short time period in 1959 where, as a young man looking to make into the film industry in England, he somehow ended up working on the film set with Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, and according to Clark's memoirs, he gets involved with Monroe for a spell. It took a little getting used to Michelle Williams playing Marilyn Monroe, as she doesn't quite have the eyes of Monroe, but she does a credible job channelling the various facets of Monroe's personality, looks, speech patterns, and performance quality playing to the camera, all the while driving Olivier to the brink of madness due to her use of "The Method" yielding production stoppages and budget overruns, while he could easily rely on his years of theatrical training to bolster his film performances. And as the film wore on, she inhabits the role very well. Most likely Williams will get a best actress Oscar nomination for her work in this film, but I don't think she'll win. The story itself is fairly breezy, almost fantasy-inspired, but it has enough humor and pathos to be enjoyable enough. Kenneth Branagh might also snag a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for his work, but not sure if it'll resonate with the academy. I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

 

[Hans M.]

I think the only thing that raises the film to a watchable level is Williams' powerful and nuanced performance. I wrote a review here: http://indieethos.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/michelle-williams-charms-in-my-week-with-marilyn/ If I had to give it a grade, it would be a C.

 

[Michael Elliott]

I try not to pay too much attention to the "look" of one actor playing another. Anthony Hopkins certainly didn't look like Nixon but he was able to get the heart and soul of the performance right, which I think is the most important part. I've heard a few say Williams doesn't look like Monroe but no one seems to bringing up the fact that Branagh doesn't look like Olivier and that Redmayne doesn't look like Clark. Or that Karl Moffatt doesn't look like Jack Cardiff and so on and so forth. I thought Williams was terrific in the part and after getting warmed up to her there wasn't a single second where I felt as if I was watching an actress trying to mimic Monroe. I think most "larger than life" personalities are just a terror for any actor to play but I thought she was marvelous. I really forgot that I was watching someone play her because she felt so real. The same for Branagh and the supporting cast. I really loved the movie. As a film buff I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes stuff. I thought the love story or friendship thing was just as good if not better. I've never seen THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL and it appears the DVD is OOP, which seems pretty stupid consider the buzz this film is getting.