Becoming Jane

Before you see this movie, ask yourself why you want to see this movie. Do you want to learn more about Jane Austen? Is Superbad sold out? Are you because your girlfriend wants to see it but you would rather take a trip to the dentist? Of course the filmmakers are caught in an impossible trap, do they want to make a movie that will make money, a movie that makes an attempt to stay close to the truth. For examples of different solutions to these type problems take a look at A Beautiful Mind, directed by Ron Howard, and Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima pictures that came out last year (and you should see them if you haven't already, they are excellent). Check these out against the historical record and see what you find out.

Becoming Jane was directed by Julian Jarrold. The last film that he directed was Kinky Boots. I think the alternate title should have been Becoming Jane If Her Life Had Been Scripted by Hollywood. Also I don't think Anne Hathaway looks anything like Jane Austen. She looks like Jane Austen in the same way that Fabio looks like me. Most of the incidents that are in the movie have some loose (and I do mean loose) basis in fact, but they did not happen in the order that they are presented here. Once you change the chronological order of things, you will always change the meaning of those same things. The filmmakers of Becoming Jane know this movie should be taken with a big grain of salt, but I don't really think they go out of their way to make that clear either. Calling the movie Becoming Jane doesn't help.

I saw this movie at a free screening, and the movie was slightly out of focus for the whole movie. This drives me crazy. When I saw The Invasion, the last fifteen minutes of the movie were framed wrong, with the top of the movie at the bottom of the screen and the bottom of the movie at the top of the screen. And then there was a huge fight when my fellow movie patrons wanted their money back out in the front lobby (man I just realized I missed my chance to catch it on a camera phone, I could have blackmailed AMC for life). I have decided I am going to start a list of all the little projection problems that crop up, and at what movie I was seeing at the time, and at what theater the problem occurred. By far the most common problem is a movie that is not being heard in surround sound, and the next most common problem are movies being projected out of focus.

A movie not being projected in surround sound, especially if it an action picture like one of the Borne pictures or a monster/horror movie, will bring me to tears. The minute I moved out of my parent's house I was looking for surround sound equipment, which you have to be a zillionaire to afford way back then. The scene is much better now with almost all amplifiers capable of decoding surround sound. I will buy a DVD that has a DTS soundtrack just because it has a DTS soundtrack (just bought Robots for this reason). DTS kicks ass. I have not jumped over to all the new HD and Blu-Ray versions, having been burned by RCA CED discs and never forgetting it (the other reason is I can't afford $30 per movie). I still have a few CED discs scattered around the house and can't play them on anything (and on eBay they are worth about 99 cents unless you have a copy of Let It Be). All of you Beta people out there can relate to what I am saying. The sound of a movie is important enough to care about and to make sure it is done right. WHY DON'T MOVIE THEATERS CARE?? WHY WHY?

I think I have gone on a tangent long enough. Becoming Jane is a well acted movie. I think you could almost take this movie to a film school and study the editing. The editing is very much a part of the character of this picture, and the choices of shots were made with tender loving care. Also there are a lot of different types of shots and different techniques used to introduce scenes and to make transitions. If you were a film student and wanted a movie to look at just from an editing standpoint, and someone had put a big scratch through your Citizen Kane DVD, you could do much worse than studying Becoming Jane. You could write a pretty good article on just the editing of this picture if you cared to. The movie is extremely well cast with the exception of James Cromwell as the father. He does a good job in this movie, but I have just seen him too many times in too many of the same type parts. I want to see James Cromwell star in a picture for once, not be the dad of the star. Are there no other actors that can pull off a Dad part in a movie? The movie does a great job of getting a feel for the period and the problems that could arise if you had a mind of your own (remember Marie Antoinette). This is a movie worth watching as long as you know what you are in for. As a movie it works well, as a presentation of historical fact, Becoming Jane should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

You can write James Harper at movielover77061@yahoo.com