Movies

I first saw this movie on cable with my significant other, and though I usually dread this type of film, I found myself drawn to the simple yet enjoyable plot. The love story between Stella and Joe was well done; slow, almost arduous, yet it seemed never to lag, and I felt very attached this movie and its cast. It's just one of those movies that really isn't much to look at or think about, but leaves you with an extremely -- well -- pleasant feeling. Casting was brilliant, and some of the cinematography took great advantage of the beautiful English countryside.

We've seen this kind of story countless times in BBC imports or Danielle Steel novels. There's nothing new about the plot or the characters: saucy working class girl, sensible"head girl" type, and sensitive British lass with eyes for the equally sensitive farmhand. The plot isn't executed in a novel fashion, either, and we can see the rather abrupt ending coming miles away. Still, the leads are quite attractive, with Anna Friel, Catherine McCormack, and Rachel Weisz as the three main land girls of the title and Stephen Mackintosh as the sensitive Dorset lad. Enough so to make it worth a rent on a weekend when all the new releases are checked out!

I must compare LAND GIRLS (1998)with the newly-released (2001) ENIGMA both of which I saw this evening. The more recent film is utterly cliche-ridden (Tom Stoppard, the screenwriter, even throws in a bit borrowed from John Buchan's 39 STEPS!) while David Leland's movie continues to surprise the viewer to the last frame. The horror,the restraint, the mood of Britain at war come through careful period reconstruction. Reality is heightened so that the dazzlingly photographed British countryside continually reminds us of the dark shadow of War which hangs over these young lives. The acting is uniformly good and many of the cast come from the British stage to deliver real truth-of-performance. Unlike ENIGMA'S characters you believe the Land Girls and the people around them.