WINTER'S TALE

By Darin Skaggs

    Films are on a pattern of unoriginality and cliché story making.  Some filmmakers take this to task and attempt to make original material with some instances of successful attempts.  Others however do not, including the filmmakers of Akiva Goldsmith’s Winter’s Tale, which is an original tale but an over the top crazy film that all adds up to a confusing, unsatisfying mess.

     Winter’s Tale is a story about Peter Lake (Colin Ferrell).  He is a fugitive on the run from the mysterious Pearly (Russell Crowe).  While in a home, that Peter is there to rob, so he could get by, he meets a dying girl named Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay).  They form a relationship and fall in love.  Eventually she dies, he is heartbroken.  This leads to a scene of Pearly throwing Peter off a bridge.  Somehow, it is explained but still, Lake survives the fall and comes out of the water.  It has been one hundred years and is now 2014.  He then does many other confusing things along with other characters having very confusing conversations.

     The film is downright silly.  The first scene between Peter and Pearly, Peter escapes with a horse that is clearly magical because he jumps a ten foot fence.  The magic or better said supernatural quality comes out of nowhere and is definitely out of place in the film.  You learn a bit into the film that Pearly may or may not be a demon better proved by one of the most hilarious and bizarre cameos in film history.  The first two acts of the movie are based on this love story which ends with her death.  He then somehow time travels one hundred years and starts a new adventure after he remembers who he is.  This apparently takes the one hundred years.  The film loses your interest after the love story and it definitely loses focus.  It speeds up a story we don’t have much interest in and concludes other story lines with mediocre scenes. 

     The film is a complete mess and does nothing with its story.  It is acted fine but nothing can really save this story.  It mixes magic and romance genres but fails to do so in an interesting way.  It is a film that could be watched as a so bad it’s good, but will frustrate anyone looking for a good film to watch.