Falling in Love

I've read reviews and articles from its day dismissing this moving as a waster of two major talents. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, all of those comments appear short sighted if not just inaccurate. True, the film is an "hommage" to David Lean's "Brief Encounter" and I don't think anybody can deny that. The word "hommage" may be arguable but the concept isn't it. Streep is a feast to the eyes and ears. She was then and she is now. She constructs something memorable out something quite ordinary. De Niro falls into place but it's hard to divorce him from his well established film persona. Is this Travis? So clean? I fell into their Brief Encounter situation head on and enjoyed it thoroughly. In particular the first 45 minutes when their lives are starting to connect but before the actual connection. My favorite part? Meryl for the first time waiting for him in the train, looking out of the window to catch a glimpse. The juxtaposition of her thoughts it's dizzying, wonderful and worth the entire film.

In a very long time, I haven't seen a good movie about a love story without being against the background of modern complexities or any special times that help add spices to it, yet leaving an impact that cannot be ignored. It is a story that is moving if happening in the fifteenth century equally as in the twentieth, twenty first and forever. A woman and a man at any given time of history can relate to it and that's the beauty of it. This is a lovely example of how such remarkable acting can bring the simplest of stories so alive. De Niro and Streep have outdone themselves in this movie conveying such deep feelings in such a simple context: a story that probably happens everyday, but in this movie they make you feel it, making you aware of its complexity despite its lack of any extraordinary circumstances. Even though De Niro as an actor always embodies such charisma and sex appeal, he able to carry himself as such a regular simple man-all that there is to him is that he is in love with a married woman other than his wife. As for Streep, she is similarly outstanding. Together, they bring depth to a story, that otherwise could be perceived as simple and not worth telling.

In my opinion this is the most important element in movies: seeing a story through the people going through it.

This is my favourite DeNiro movie and one of Meryl Streep's many great roles (but don't miss The Hours, The Bridges of Madison County and Out of Africa!). Meryl Streep can, better than most, carry a slow movie built almost entirely on moods and quiet thinking.

Still, Falling in Love could never have been what it is without all the excellent supporting actors. The way it paints the image of two very different marriages slowly falling apart without the participants really understanding what is happening is compelling, and the movie, while not exactly complex or deep, doesn't ever take the easy way out. Instead it relies completely on the talents of all the actors, to tell a realistic story of what can and does happen in real life.

The music is also excellent and at times it stands for a significant part of the movie's language.

But don't bother if you're prejudiced against romantic drama.

I'll write more when I have more time. For now, after having read Mr. Maltin's brief critique of this film ("dull script"), I must say that I couldn't disagree more. This is a superb, quiet little gem. It's very realistic, and I bet it fared much better in Europe than here in the States. It's a portrait of two married people who happen to run into each other one day while Christmas shopping, and then again a few months later on the train. As they take the same route most days every week, they begin to strike up a friendship that eventually deepens. Watching both DeNiro's and Streep's expressions alone, in long moments of no dialog, are worth the price of the rental, or the time to watch it on cable. And, the film is a bit suspenseful because you think that there might be a chance that the ending might go the other way; but, I don't want to give too much away. However, it is a Hollywood picture. So, enough said.

At any rate, I just love films that take place in New York but that aren't completely violent (with the exception of anything Scorsese directs) or show some of its worst parts. This is a pleasant, quiet, sweet, rather serious, and sometimes sad film that paints a very realistic portrait of marriage and infidelity. It's worth watching for these two acting Goliaths alone.

I came across this film by accident one night. I'd never heard of it but it starred Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro, so I stuck it on. A more modern take on Brief Encounter, this film sings because of the chemistry between its leads and it quickly became clear to me that it'd be a film I'd revisit.

Sometimes you've just got to go with a film for what it is - Falling in Love won't change your life and it doesn't push any cinematic boundaries, but it's a classic love story that brought together two of the best actors of its time. It's now one of my (not so) guilty pleasures.