Movies
Anna and the King
Uncalled-for and uninspired retelling, without benefit of Yul Brynner or Broadway show tunes, of the clash of wits and wills between the Victorian-era widowed English governess and the progressive Siamese monarch-cum-polygamist. Jodie Foster has a painful-to-watch tenseness in her lips and jaw, perhaps under the strain of the British accent and the precocious feminism. And Chow Yun-Fat, a lightweight potentate, is intelligible only about half the time. The numerous subtitles and spoken translations (not to mention the tableaus of carnage) lend an air of pedantry more than of authenticity. Directed by Andy Tennant. 1999.
Reader Rating:
MPAA Rating: PG-13
