Get to 'The Last Station' on time
Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer in Oscar-nominated performances.
(Sony Pictures Classics)
The Last Station
Running time: 112 minutes
MPAA rating: R (adult situations, nudity)
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Even though "The Last Station" chronicles the final tumultuous year in the life of great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, it wouldn't have surprised me to see Woody Allen pop out from behind a tree for a comic philosophical discussion about "Love and Death."
Adapted for the screen and directed by Michael Hoffman, who took on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 1999, "The Last Station" combines history with the slightest hint of cinematic comic frolic. And he has two very good actors in key roles.
Christopher Plummer, recently on screen as the immortal and forever miserable title character in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," takes on Tolstoy in his final year of creativity and life in 1910.
Arguably the biggest celebrity in the world at the time, Tolstoy is caught in a personal battle of war and peace. The Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren), his wife of 48 years, is devastated by the news that her husband is thinking of changing his will.
Tolstoy' s devious disciple Vladimir Chertkov (a leering Paul Giamatti) is urging the great writer to commit to what might be referred to in a few decades as the Jonas Salk. In other words, Chertkov strongly lobbies Tolstoy to sign over the rights to his life of writing to the Russian people.
When the Countess finds out, the first cold war erupts in Tolstoy's inner circle.
Hoffman sets the stage exquisetly when it comes to capturing a family bond so powerful that the mere notion of breaking it can send an aged revered writer fleeing his own home in the middle of the night.
This may be personal preference, but I'm bothered when movies taking place in a foreign land are played out by actors speaking English. This case is extra puzzling because some banners on display during an outdoor celebration bear Russian words, yet the principals speak English.
On the other hand, Plummer and Mirren are joys to behold in this historical drama (shot in the German countryside, not Russia) that erupts with situational comedy. In fact, they are both up for Academy Awards for their efforts.
For a reason I can't quite fathom, Plummer's Tolstoy draws a supporting actor nod.
Mirren, an Academy Award winner for her title role in "The Queen" (2006) and a best actress nominee for this performance, chews the scenery at times like a TV soap opera star in a lingering death-bed scene. Somehow, she still makes it appear cutting-edge marvelous.
Giamatti and James McAvoy have less to do, but are fine as well. McAvoy ("Wanted," "Atonement") plays Tolstoy's secretary in way over his head in matters of family loyalty and love.
Beautifully staged, "The Last Station" diligently seeks peace in a warring household of wills, both on paper and of the mind.
Adapted for the screen and directed by Michael Hoffman, who took on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 1999, "The Last Station" combines history with the slightest hint of cinematic comic frolic. And he has two very good actors in key roles.
Christopher Plummer, recently on screen as the immortal and forever miserable title character in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," takes on Tolstoy in his final year of creativity and life in 1910.
Arguably the biggest celebrity in the world at the time, Tolstoy is caught in a personal battle of war and peace. The Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren), his wife of 48 years, is devastated by the news that her husband is thinking of changing his will.
Tolstoy' s devious disciple Vladimir Chertkov (a leering Paul Giamatti) is urging the great writer to commit to what might be referred to in a few decades as the Jonas Salk. In other words, Chertkov strongly lobbies Tolstoy to sign over the rights to his life of writing to the Russian people.
When the Countess finds out, the first cold war erupts in Tolstoy's inner circle.
Hoffman sets the stage exquisetly when it comes to capturing a family bond so powerful that the mere notion of breaking it can send an aged revered writer fleeing his own home in the middle of the night.
This may be personal preference, but I'm bothered when movies taking place in a foreign land are played out by actors speaking English. This case is extra puzzling because some banners on display during an outdoor celebration bear Russian words, yet the principals speak English.
On the other hand, Plummer and Mirren are joys to behold in this historical drama (shot in the German countryside, not Russia) that erupts with situational comedy. In fact, they are both up for Academy Awards for their efforts.
For a reason I can't quite fathom, Plummer's Tolstoy draws a supporting actor nod.
Mirren, an Academy Award winner for her title role in "The Queen" (2006) and a best actress nominee for this performance, chews the scenery at times like a TV soap opera star in a lingering death-bed scene. Somehow, she still makes it appear cutting-edge marvelous.
Giamatti and James McAvoy have less to do, but are fine as well. McAvoy ("Wanted," "Atonement") plays Tolstoy's secretary in way over his head in matters of family loyalty and love.
Beautifully staged, "The Last Station" diligently seeks peace in a warring household of wills, both on paper and of the mind.
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