Memorable, crazy movie

Fantastic!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Hervé Joncour (Michael Pitt) is a young Frenchman who marries Hélène (Keira Knightley) in 1862. Baldabiou (Alfred Molina) refurbishes the silk mills but needs new silkworms. Silkworms are dying all over the world, and he hires Hervé to go to Africa to retrieve the eggs. The disease has traveled to Africa and infected the eggs he brought back. Hervé has to travel to the forbidden Japanese interior to trade for some uncontaminated eggs risking his life. While in Japan, he is taken by a beautiful woman (Sei Ashina) who is the concubine of a local lord. Even when he goes back to France, he is haunted by his infatuation.Michael Pitt is sadly stiff and unemotional in this one. The story is slow, laborious and long despite its 109 minutes running time. Keira Knightley is only in the movie intermittently. Director François Girard creates a grinding plodding melodrama. He treats every frame like an oil painting. The only saving grace in this is the gorgeous locations and the beauty on the screen. This works better as a travelogue. It would be more interesting to see an actual tea ceremony.

Visually stunning, this is a dark and sleepy romance of a movie. Beautifully presented,with a wonderful music score to match. Set in another century,the film relates the tale of a man who on his business trips trekking the world from Europe to the Far East,Japan, ultimately and retrospectively discovers what is love. This is a quiet and intense emotional picture.It falls short of being a classic in my view only because of the miscasting of the lead male and female who are not sufficiently charismatic or convincing in their roles. But everything else is near perfect.And I still rate this film highly:7/10

Herve Joncour, a young man in France, fresh from the army, receives a proposal he cannot refuse: he must go to Japan to collect silk worms and bring them to France where the silk industry has been dying because of a plague that has affected them. Before he undertakes the trip to the East, he marries the beautiful woman he loves, Helene. Since the action takes place in the middle of the XIX century, such an endeavor was not without its risks.When Herve gets to Japan, he encounters an exotic place where he is made to go blindfolded to an unknown area searching for the worms. As he deals with the ruthless man that is key to selling the treasure to bring back, he meets a mysterious woman who captures his imagination and gets the best of him. Since they don't exchange a word, Herve's mind is full of her exotic beauty.He returns to France and becomes rich from the silk that is produced using the worms he has brought back. Helene, has waited for him, but her only regret is that she never conceives a child to make her complete. Herve has no problem adapting himself to the duplicity within his heart.On the second trip to Japan, Herve receives a note from the woman that dominates his thoughts. Since it's written in Japanese characters, he has no way of knowing what she meant. For that, he must secure the help of a Madame of a house of ill repute in Lyons. The message, when is read by the lady confounds him completely. What is he to make out of the strange message? Something happened to Alessandro Baricco's novel "Silk" on the way to the movies. The novel, one of the best narratives by the author, was a pleasure to read. The screen adaptation by its director Francois Girard and Michael Golding, is not as poetic as this team probably intended to. Where the book felt almost like a poem, the film doesn't do the same for us, who have admired Mr. Baricco's work. It deserved better.The problem appears to be in the casting the role of Herve. Michael Pitt mumbles most of his way throughout the film. His take on the character is what, in our humble opinion, derails the film. This part needed someone who could make the viewer believe Herve's passion going on in his head, but unfortunately, being because of Mr. Girard's direction, or Mr. Pitt's inability to make Herve come alive, one doesn't get that impression.Kira Knightly has a small role as Helene. Ms. Knightly doesn't show much chemistry with Mr. Pitt, thus their scenes feel flat. Sei Ashina, who is seen as the object of desire, gives the right tone to her performance. Alfred Molina appears as the sponsor of Herve.The best thing in the film is the cinematography of Alain Dostie, who photograph the beautiful backgrounds with loving care. Visually, the film will please the viewer going without having read the novel. The Japanese and Italian natural settings worked miracles for a film that shows almost no substance.

This movie was a complete train wreck, it seemed to be in shambles from the very beginning. The story was quite boring, the acting was mediocre at best, and the images were stale. Many people are saying the images were beautiful, but I would completely disagree. This film is trying to be overly artsy and ends up detracting from the potential of some of the scenes. If you are searching for a beautifully shot film, may I suggest something like House of Flying Daggers or Hero. As far as acting goes, even Keira Knightley's performance was disappointing. As seen in the Jacket, Knightley's American accent just does not seem to work and ends up being distracting from her performance, coupled with the weak script the film just begins to flop. This movie just falters on so many levels, has some serious plot holes and fails to connect on any level. I have not read the book and many people seem to say that you should read the book before watching this film, but purely as a stand alone movie this film just does not work.