Come Away. (PG.)
Directed by Brenda Chapman
Starring Angelina Jolie, David Oyelowo, Anna Chancellor, Jordan A. Nash, Keira Chansa and Michael Caine. In cinemas Dec 18th. 94 mins.
I like a nice mystery myself and this new children's fantasy certainly provides one of them. At the beginning, I was wondering what the hell I was watching and an hour and a half later I was wondering what the hell I had just seen, though with a tad more animation and frustration.
Nothing really fits in this film. It's got a Hollywood cast but the production values of a cheap BBC children's drama from the last century. That this is the work of one of the directors of Pixar's Brave is just another of its mysteries. After a family tragedy, Rose (Jolie) and Jack's (Oyelowo) two children Peter (Nash) and Alice (Chansa) escape into a fantasy world, visualising elements of Pan and Wonderland to replace harsh reality.
Presumably, the film is aimed at children but the story is bleak and mirthless and the fantasy elements don't do anything to lift the gloom. The theme, I think, is the importance of play and imagination to children but none of the play scenes in this is much fun. Also, it doesn't make clear how we are supposed to interpret the Pan/ Wonderland elements. It's set in the Victorian era so are the children creating it themselves, or are they inspired by the existing works? I don't know. I don't even know why it's called Come Away. Surely something like Come Off It or Get Away would be more appropriate.
That this is a tale of your typical Victorian mixed-race couple further complicates the response. As a dull literalist when I see colour-blind casting in historical dramas such as Mary Queen Of Scots I take this as evidence that this country has been harmoniously multi-cultural since the Middle Ages. Come Away though is clearly a fantasy; a suspension of disbelief is requested and freely given. But, once suspended, you notice that apart from the children all the black faces in this narrative are criminals, or servants, or have moral failings. Jolie's sister Chancellor clearly believes that she has married beneath herself: Jack is a skilled craftsman but he likes the occasional drink and gamble and his family are semi-legitimate pawnbrokers. So this progressive, colourblind drama ends up being just a little bit racist, which is quite something.
Directed by Brenda Chapman
Starring Angelina Jolie, David Oyelowo, Anna Chancellor, Jordan A. Nash, Keira Chansa and Michael Caine. In cinemas Dec 18th. 94 mins.
I like a nice mystery myself and this new children's fantasy certainly provides one of them. At the beginning, I was wondering what the hell I was watching and an hour and a half later I was wondering what the hell I had just seen, though with a tad more animation and frustration.
Nothing really fits in this film. It's got a Hollywood cast but the production values of a cheap BBC children's drama from the last century. That this is the work of one of the directors of Pixar's Brave is just another of its mysteries. After a family tragedy, Rose (Jolie) and Jack's (Oyelowo) two children Peter (Nash) and Alice (Chansa) escape into a fantasy world, visualising elements of Pan and Wonderland to replace harsh reality.
Presumably, the film is aimed at children but the story is bleak and mirthless and the fantasy elements don't do anything to lift the gloom. The theme, I think, is the importance of play and imagination to children but none of the play scenes in this is much fun. Also, it doesn't make clear how we are supposed to interpret the Pan/ Wonderland elements. It's set in the Victorian era so are the children creating it themselves, or are they inspired by the existing works? I don't know. I don't even know why it's called Come Away. Surely something like Come Off It or Get Away would be more appropriate.
That this is a tale of your typical Victorian mixed-race couple further complicates the response. As a dull literalist when I see colour-blind casting in historical dramas such as Mary Queen Of Scots I take this as evidence that this country has been harmoniously multi-cultural since the Middle Ages. Come Away though is clearly a fantasy; a suspension of disbelief is requested and freely given. But, once suspended, you notice that apart from the children all the black faces in this narrative are criminals, or servants, or have moral failings. Jolie's sister Chancellor clearly believes that she has married beneath herself: Jack is a skilled craftsman but he likes the occasional drink and gamble and his family are semi-legitimate pawnbrokers. So this progressive, colourblind drama ends up being just a little bit racist, which is quite something.
