First, I'll review the DVD itself: it's a problem-free experience, and looks like it was made professionally instead of being some bootleg. I'm highly satisfied with the presentation quality.
Now, the film: I first saw this on Netflix, with no idea whatsoever what it was beyond the intro blurb. Its plot is not really clever (really predictable, if I'm honest), but the lines are nuanced, funny, real, and highly relatable. The actors do spectacular jobs in all respects (outside of William Moseley's attempt at an American accent, which was odd considering the character could have been British with zero impact on the plot). I'm a cinephile, and yet to date I have only ever personally identified with bits and pieces of certain characters, like Adrian Monk, for example (which is TV, but still). In most movies, I find almost no one relatable, so it's not what draws me, but I still enjoy them immensely. This is the first movie I've ever watched where I fully identify with any character, let alone both the main character and her father. That's the main thing that catapulted it to my top three. In the case of Carrie, I identified with her eccentricities, her alienation, her loneliness, her desire to connect with people despite disliking them (and that's highly nuanced), her constant battle to find ways to connect with hypocritical people and accept that she's hypocritical herself in her own way, her struggle to realize that she's not the moral guardian of the human race, her strong opinions that directly juxtapose against the way she always second guesses herself, her inability to connect with people on her intellectual level and have them truly understand her without dumbing herself down...everything about her just spoke to me. I also saw my daughter in her, and as such I identified with her father just as much (though I like to think I will never have to put that much effort into gaining catharsis with her--or indeed I hope I'll never have to reach catharsis at all, since that implies a preceding separation). I identify less with his character than his position, though, and there's a layer of trepidation that though he and Carrie have many ways to connect, they still can't; it makes me hope it's not in my future. I think just about anyone can see some part of themselves in Carrie in some way, so the fact that Bel Powley's performance is so endearing just cements that relatability in place. Another performer might have turned Carrie into an irritating, possibly insufferable person, so I appreciate Bel's deft hand even more. On top of that, Bel is performing against some great and established actors, namely Gabriel Byrne and Nathan Lane, and yet she holds her own, seemingly with ease. I don't know how faithfully this recreates the book since I haven't read it yet, but considering that it's not the plot that draws me to this, I might not enjoy it as much unless the writing is good. In the end, I find more and more to love about this movie every time I watch it. It's securely in third place, with a strong candidacy for second.
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Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
Not your once only throw away type of movie!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2017Marianne
This is a film I can watch every day
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2020