GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Kessler1996 I found this film thoroughly unenjoyable. There was very little in this motion picture that I valued as "great cinema" - even using the word 'great' in a review of it seems excessively flattering. This film does not deserve to have such a word attributed to it.Set in the monotony of a Christian (so I assume) boarding school in 1931 England, any hope of a plot line is painfully non-existent and all events that occurred in this film agglutinated into one another like some atrocious melting pot. Or a car crash. Even at a running time of a mere 85 minutes, this film dragged on for far too long. Its two leading characters, Guy (Rupert Everett) and Tommy (a very young Colin Firth), are so boringly aspirational. Whether it be favouring Communism or infatuation over a fellow student, the two are so hopelessly dull and lose engagement over their audience relatively instantaneously. Their incessant soliloquies, dreaming of 'breaking free', swiftly become tedious and over-rehearsed. Some may see this film as "brave" for tackling the taboo of homosexuality in schools - especially in the early 1930s - and it may well have been, had it not been written so poorly. This is a sensitive subject yet it has not been treated that way, instead offering its audience indirect and misguided babble that neither satisfies nor interests. There is so precious little in this film that provokes any real thought as everything we are given is provided via insignificant segments of derailed trains of thought. It's like if someone gives you a joke and you don't realise that last sentence was the punchline. This is a film in which you will forever be waiting for a punchline. But, of course, it never comes.The only redeeming features are its beautiful, aristocratic settings amid the gorgeously vintage school building and Peter Biziou's very stylish cinematography. The sweeping camera movements devour the scenery and give us something wonderful to substitute for the plot-holed screenplay. This film is visually so much more impressive than its translucent story. Performances from semi-decent actors (at the time, at least), shoddy screen writing and misguided directing leave audiences unimpressed and dissatisfied with a hatefully deluded story that gets nowhere. This is a film that takes forever to say nothing.

treeline1 As the story opens, a British traitor is talking about the beginnings of his rebellion at a posh public school in the 1930s. In a flashback, we follow classmates Guy and Tommy (Rupert Everett and Colin Firth); Guy is struggling with hiding his homosexuality and Tommy is a budding Marxist.This fictionalized story of infamous spy Guy Burgess' youth is a fascinating look at that very British institution, the public school with its young aristocrats luxuriating in their privileged lives. Though the movie moves very slowly and has little action, I still enjoyed the ambiance and the gorgeous scenery in and around Oxford. Everett and Firth are amazingly young and give excellent performances. It is interesting to note a youthful Earl Spencer playing one of the students (good job!) and some filming was even done at Althorp, the Spencer home.On the downside, the story fails to fully explain why Guy became a Russian spy and his "old man" hair and make-up are truly ridiculous, but I still recommend the movie as an enjoyable look at traditional school life.

pixielynx Another Country is a very telling portrait of life at one of England's top private schools in the 1930s. On the surface, everything looks perfect. Privileged youth frolics in a variety of beautiful locations, whilst receiving the best education money could buy. It all looks idyllic, but of course, there is a dark underbelly of violence and prejudice that provokes a life changing decision for the main character, Guy Bennett, played very elegantly by Rupert Everett. Colin Firth's character provides a nice Communist commentary on the appalling elitism of English society and he and Everett both turn in exceptional performances. This movie clearly launched both of their careers.Although the natural beauty of the locations would have made it hard for anyone to make an ugly picture, this film is so exquisitely shot and scored, that it is almost painful at times. Sure there are some bad moments (Rupert Everett's terrible make up for his scenes as the aged Bennett springs to mind and there is a certain clichéd quality to some of the scenes) but on the whole, the good far outweighs the bad.

kdrobison This could have been a great film, but was only an okay film. I could make many comments, but I just have a question. The final scene (one of only two times we have to see Rupert embroiled in that awful makeup that renders him unable to move a single muscle in his face) ends abruptly and goes to credits. Ordinarily I would chalk this up to a lame ending, which it may very well be. But the rented DVD I have lists the movie at 107 minutes. The actual playing time is 84 minutes. Could be a typo, I guess, but it's way off. Plus, movies that are 90 minutes or less are often of the slasher variety, not the drama variety. If you have any thoughts or if I'm just out of my mind, e-mail me privately as I probably won't check this often.