An ode to romance

Every once in a while comes a “fatku” film like ‘Winter’s Tale’. It has panache, feelings, Bergmanesque touches and a plethora of talented actors. What’s more it marks the directorial debut of Oscar-winning scriptwriter Akiva Goldsman and in what a sensational way.

The story is centred on petty thief Peter Lake (Colin Farrell) who finds his way into the house of a consumptive Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay) but beautiful woman who has never been kissed on the mouth. The charmer (her description of him) hero soon sees to that despite her somewhat protective dad (William Hurt) and a sweet liaison ensues with lyrical overtones like “magic is everywhere around, you just have to look”. And that’s what we experience right through its 118-minute duration. There’s fantasy seen through the flying white horse Althamsor who saves Lake from some tight situations. Time also flies by, like the white horse, and decades later our hero is never out of trouble. Comely librarian Virginia Gamely (Jennifer Connelly) meets Lake who is now being pursued by a grim and ruthless Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe) who is baying for his blood. But he battles on bravely like some marathon man.

There are more cameos aimed to hold the attention span like Lucifer/Judge (Will Smith) who in inimitable style reels out some cute lines and of course last but far from the least veteran Eva Marie-Samt and an adult Villa whose opening lines “I think I’ll have some milk shake, with chocolate and cream” do justice to her image who’s been doing the rounds even before Hitchcock’s “North by North West.” As if all this isn’t enough, there’s Caleb Deschanel’s dazzling camerawork to say nothing about Goldsman’s stunning debut. Farrell continues to draw from his vast repertoire and Crowe makes a good villain. The two females Findlay and Connelly vie with each other and can one ask for more?