Movie Review : The Painted Veil

Starring : Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Leiv Schreiber, Toby Jones, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang
Directed by : John Curran
Synopsis : A young scientist and his reluctant wife move to the interior of China during a Cholera outbreak in the 1920's, and amidst Nationalist revolts against British intervention in the country.
My Rating - 4/5




Right about now you are wandering if I should be checked in for a psych evaluation. Well, sod off is all I can say. I was admittedly a bit hesitant to go to this movie, what with it being a drama, distinct lack of explosions and no snappy repartee during gunplay. But since it was a relaxing Sunday morning with She Who Must Be Obeyed, I thought it would be nice to spend a bit of "quality time".
I saw the review by Kate Rogers on TV3 and I must admit, I generally agree with most of what she says about a large number of movies, so the fact that she enjoyed it meant I went into it with a positive frame of mind.
Edward Norton is a brilliant actor, and while I don't always agree with the roles he plays, he has the talent to be able to pick the roles he wants to do. I didn't really like the Spike Lee film The 25th Hour, except for one scene where Ed does a monologue at the mirror - that one scene blew me away and made that whole movie worth watching.
It will be interesting to see how the new Hulk movie goes later this year.
Naiomi Watts I have never really liked to be honest, but this is one movie I can say she blew me away in. She captures the emotions and motivations of the character incredibly, and projects them so well you'd have to be blind to miss them. Superbly cast, both Naiomi and Edward made this movie entertaining and I got an emotional connection I don't normally get with this sort of movie.
Leiv Schreiber, Toby Jones, and Anthony Wong Chau-Sang also do an excellent job of capturing their roles and help flesh out this movie into a masterpiece.

Overdoing it much? Who gives a shit - enjoyed the movie, recommend you see it, but I don't care if you don't like it - I reckon its excellent.