Review: The new "Emma."

by Lynn Lee

Now that we’ve revisited past Emma adaptations like 1996's Miramax release and 1995's Clueless, courtesy of Claudio, it’s time to turn our attention to the latest version, which just went wide last week.  It’s a production of relative newcomers, marking the directorial and screenwriting debuts, respectively, of photographer Autumn de Wilde and Booker Prizewinning New Zealand novelist Eleanor Catton, and starring a cast of mostly fresh faces headed by rising star Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch).  Whatever it’s lacking in big names it certainly makes up for in indie credit.

The result is an Emma that’s bright, fun, and funny – not attaining the sublime heights of Clueless but more successful than the 1996 Miramax version with Gwyneth Paltrow...

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The Emmas of Yore: ITV's "Emma"

by Cláudio Alves

The character of Emma Woodhouse is a tricky one to play. At least, if the actress is trying to reproduce the personality Jane Austen wrote in her famous novel. She's a daughter of privilege who has grown to believe she's much cleverer than what is true. A matchmaker by vocation, Emma is a busybody who's always interfering in other people's lives, presumptuous and terminally judgmental of all that surrounds her. She can also be a bit of a mean girl when indulged. Still, these character flaws are nothing but the folly of youth and the consequence of a provincial upbringing. Emma Woodhouse is naïve to a fault and desperately romantic. More importantly, she's not intentionally cruel or callous, just foolish.

This mix of a meddler's instinct and a daydreamer's heart is a difficult one to represent without skewing the balance of the characterization. In that regard, Kate Beckinsale might be the best Emma of them all…

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The Emmas of Yore: Miramax's "Emma"

by Cláudio Alves

Following the Jane Austen cinematic frenzy of 1995, the author was Hollywood's it-girl. At least, as far as classic writers were concerned. The following year nobody could get enough of Emma, with Clueless being adapted into a sitcom, and two other adaptations of the book being produced on both sides of the Atlantic. Today, we're here to talk about Miramax's lavish Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Northam, Toni Collette, and Ewan McGregor, among many other wonderful thespians. It's one hell of a cast.

Still, despite its enviable collection of actors, this isn't the best screen version of Emma. For one, the project could have used a bit less fidelity to the source material and a lot more narrative ingenuity…

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What did you see this weekend?

Performing significantly above expectations this weekend were the wide release Call of the Wild, and two female-driven platform titles, France's awesome Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and the latest adaptation of Emma. Box office estimates after the jump... 

Weekend Box Office February 21st-23rd (ESTIMATES ONLY) 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended
WIDE RELEASE (800+ screens)	PLATFORM TITLES
Call of the Wild	Emma
1 🔺 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG  $26.3 (cum. $106.6)	1 🔺 IMPRACTICAL JOKERS $2.6 on 357 screens *new*
2  🔺  CALL OF THE WILD  $24.8 *new* HARRISON FORD	2 🔺  MY BOYFRIEND'S MEDS $1.4 on 350 screens *new*
3 BIRDS OF PREY $7.0 (cum. $72.5) REVIEW	3 🔺 PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE $715k on 130 screens (cum. $1.4) TOP TEN LIST ★

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The Emmas of Yore: "Clueless"

To celebrate the release of Emma, let's revisit the novel's previous iterations in film history. First up, the case of Amy Heckerling's Clueless (1995)

by Cláudio Alves

From 1940 to 1995, no motion picture was made with a screenplay based on any Jane Austen novel. There were some negligible low-budget miniseries along the way, but nothing major. Then came the 90s and everything changed. In 1995 alone, the world got to enjoy the pleasures of Roger Michell's Persuasion and the lavish TV adaptation of Pride & Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. Most importantly, Clueless happened, effectively showing that Jane Austen was cool and igniting the Hollywood trend of filming great tomes of classic literature reimagined as modern teen movies…

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