A Quiet Passion

We don't have a ton of British film directors whose style is immediately distinctive - in a good way. But there is Terence Davies, and his biopic of Emily Dickinson is just stunning. All the trademarks - slow, lingering camera, beautiful music, often playing for longer than you'd think. And thoughtful, feeling faces, telling us all we need to know. There is a script, sometimes a very witty and articulate script (also by Davies himself - I was amazed), but that's only a minor part of the overall effect. And at the heart of it is Cynthia Nixon, whom I'm not sure I've ever seen before, but certainly will want to see again. It's a cliche that actors carrying their previous big parts looped around their necks like an albatross, and I'd guess there are gains and losses from having been in Sex and the City, but that certainly shouldn't be held against her. I've never seen a film about a poet which convinced me so completely that yes, this person was actually involved in writing poems, and as a bonus we get a lot of them recited over the sumptuous pictures we're looking at. a total treat.