Orlando (Modern Fiction S.)

Rating:
Summary: Quirky and fun
Review: This movie is certainly worth watching. You are taken on a trot through about 400 years of British history from the perspective of the title character who is commanded not to age by Elizabeth I so doesn't. Orlando suffers somewhat as a man and inexplicably changes sex part way through film and has to deal with the unfairness of a patriarchally based system, and always has to deal with the issue of his/her longevity.

Quirky and fun, I thought the acting was good, and the cinematography very good. A movie you will talk about after you watch it.

Rating:
Summary: An epic of astounding grace
Review: This telling of Virginia Woolf's tale is a sweeping epic of grace and beauty.
There could not have been a better choice to portray the gender swapping Orlando than Tilda Swinton. She lights up the screen with her beauty, grace and subtle wit. As a young man nervously reciting poetry to Queen Elizabeth, or a modern woman raising a young daughter, she embraces the audience and pulls us fully into her world. The settings, costumes and music serve to construct a world of changing ages spinning around a single soul in flux.
Orlando is an astounding piece of cinema history and deserves a place of honor in any DVD library.

Rating:
Summary: Very Zen, very good.
Review: Whether it was a mystical experience to watch because it pulled me out of the boredom of a dreary Sunday morning when it appeared on IFC, or whether it really is one of the most fascinating and hauntingly photographed films ever made...well, the jury is still out, and in fact it's probably both reasons. But I quickly obtained my own copy and have waited to watch it again because I so badly want to share this movie with someone. But it's a rare breed that will appreciate the story of a man who over time turns into a woman---a human being who tells a story of pain and obsession, heartache, war, and finally fulfillment in the truest love possible, across five centuries of different lives/same soul. A beautiful and artful rendition of the novel. I can't wait to unwrap mine one day and share it with the right friend... Could become an underground intellegentsia cult classic. (If it hasn't already and I'm really out of the loop.)