The Experience and Review of I Will Follow

The first time I heard of this movie, was on the way to the AMC movie theater in Country Club Hills, IL. Driving from my house in Chicago to a theater way out in the boonies was nothing out of the ordinary. My mother and I used to venture out to that theater when we lived in Lansing, IL, but it was the first time we had to go out far to see a specific movie. It is a real shame that the AMC theaters closest to my home didn't have this movie's name upon their marquee, but it I'm glad because it has finally opened my eyes to how people treat a black independent film vs. a white independent film. 

Just last week, I told my loyal legion about going to see Jane Eyre at my local AMC theater. I was supposed to see I Will Follow, that same day, but the distances between the two theaters made me just want to go home. However, since I drug my mother to see Jane Eyre, I promised her I would see this movie. 

I honestly thought she was speaking of the movie Limitless. Then she mentioned Sallie Richardson-Whitfield promoting the film on the radio, and I realized the only thing these movies had in common was the fact that they were both movies and nothing more. 

Things weren't looking so good when we arrived to the theater and was told that movie was showing wayyyyyyy in the back of the venue, where they usually show movies that don't do so good in box office sales (I saw that God awful 10,000 B.C. in that same show room). I believe my exact word was, "Damn!", when we finally reached show room #5. I was surprised to see the crowd of people, maybe they had heard Sallie on the radio too. 

The movie started and I was intrigued. This is not a happy film. It is a movie showing people at low times of selfishness, weakness, and bitterness. I often get annoyed with movies that start off sad without any explanation, but I soon found out that this wasn't a movie that was supposed to linger on the sad elements. It's about growth. 

I will not give a synopsis of this movie, out of fear of giving the movie away. However, I will say you will like this movie. It's not a film that will come right out and say what it's about, but if the audience sticks with it from beginning to end (and understand the many U2 and other musical references) they will see what I saw: A great movie.

Last week, during my review of Jane Eyre, I cursed the creators of modern movie technology. The current trend of CGI's big budgeted movie magic has made it difficult for movies like I Will Follow (also starring Michole Briana White, Tracie Thoms, Blair Underwood, and Beverly Todd) to succeed at the box office. I also said that the former reliability of "word of mouth" was dead and gone. I was proven wrong by seeing this movie. This is a film which popularity has grown because of word of mouth, and I'm hoping to help it grow even bigger.

Trust me when I say, Great acting + Great script = Great movie.

Now that's how it's supposed to be.

Review: Jane Eyre

I hate when I read movie reviews and it takes the critic three paragraphs to explain to the reader that they loved a movie. So I'll start off by saying that I liked this movie.

I'm not going to lie, I seriously felt that this movie might actually be a waste of time and money; especially since I had attempted to read the book and fell into a deep slumber every time. I'm glad I stuck with my initial plan to see this movie on its opening weekend. I believe that if I had waited too long then the memory of what I had read would have left me, and I would have blindly gone into this experience...and I don't like to do that at all. 

Synopsis: Jane Eyre is basically the story of a young woman who had to struggle her entire life. She was orphaned at a young age, brought up by a bitch of an aunt, sent off to a shady ass boarding school for being "too difficult to manage"; then when she was too old to be there, she became the governess at some big ass house out in the middle of nowhere for a little girl that didn't know a word of English.

A real hard-knock life...

The one thing that I loved about the character of Jane Eyre (I also noticed this when I read the book) is that she never appeared to act as if she was a victim. She stood up for herself and hardly, if ever, cried over spilled milk. She was never the damsel. 

The actress that played Jane, Mia Wasikowska, was in a word: awesome. I loved her, and looked forward to seeing more of her whenever she left the screen.

Since seeing this movie this past Saturday, I took to seeing two of the many adaptations of this book. Although I love Samantha Morton (1997 adaptation) and the 1996 adaptation with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Anna Paquin, I must say that Wasikowska's version of Jane was more believable. Wasikowska's Jane was youthful in both age and looks, where the other women barely came close to looking the part. I don't think Samantha  Morton ever looked 19 years old even when she was 19 years old, but who can blame her for trying.

While living in that big ass house in the middle of nowhere, Jane meets the master of the house, Mr. Rochester. In the beginning, I'm sure the audience is not supposed to like him, but I immediately loved him...blame it on the casting. Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester is the only reason why I took my ass to the theater in the first place. The moment his face graced the screen, me and the other 20 women sitting in the theater gasped simultaneously. He is just...so beautiful, even though I'm almost sure Mr. Rochester is described as butt ass ugly in the book, but I'm not complaining.

Fassbender's portrayal of Mr. Rochester was very good. Compared to the other actors I've seen, the overacting and over brooding wasn't necessary, and he played the character true to his own original style. It was just right. 

However, there were some moments that had me thinking what the hell is going on. For example, the chemistry between Wasikowska and Fassbender never appeared. I was waiting for there to be an obvious spark, but nothing. The only moment that I felt that there was a little something between the two characters, was when Rochester creepily watched Jane sleep after she saved him from a fire. Then came that God awful marriage proposal...I'm not sure about my loyal legion, but if someone is head over heels in love with me and wants to marry me, he is going to have to do a little bit better than calling me a "strange and most unearthly thing" before he pops the question. I'm not fond of being called anything other than my name during a marriage proposal.

Like any other book turned movie, there are a lot of differences. There are a lot of characters and moments that I saw as crucial in the novel that weren't mentioned in the movie. However, to be honest, they weren't missed.

I wished the movie could have gone on a little longer, especially after I warmed up to the idea of Jane and Rochester being together, but a four hour movie would have been to much for some. 

Like I said before, I liked this movie. I will recommended it to people I know; the only downside is no one I know would want to see this movie. Damn you CGI, you have officially ruined the effect of word of mouth.