Reaching For the Moon

I don't know if I've ever seen a more dreary film than this. To take such a strong script and then make a mediocre film seems wrong. Weak performances and poor direction made this film extremely hard to watch.

The film chronicles the tumultuous relationship between Pulitzer prize winning poet Elizabeth Bishop (Miranda Otto) and Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares (Gloria Pires). Bishop comes to Brazil to find inspiration for her poetry and whilst living with Soares (in a bizarre love triangle) and college friend Mary, she writes her Pulitzer winning collection 'North and South', as well as dealing with her problems with alcoholism.

I really wish that this film had of focused more on Bishop's inspiration for her poetry in addition to her relationship with Soares, but instead a large portion of the film is obsessed with her alcoholism. We are only treated to a few scenes in which she does write poetry, but they are overwhelmed by the fact that she is drunk when she does write and goes out of its way many times to highlight this.

I'm not sure Miranda Otto is the best actress out there. I felt that she was just channeling Laura Linney doing an impression of Helen Mirren in The Queen. She almost looks bored as she drunkenly floats about the house in Petropolis or Rio de Janeiro.

Gloria Pires' performance does stand out, however, in this dull movie. She picks up the slack that the other actors leave and invigorates each scene she is in. I feel disappointed that the rest of the cast lets down her performance so much.

Verdict: A disappointing and dreary love story that suffers from performances that are inconsistent.