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[great expectations] [photo gallery]

-- usa / 1998 / 111 mins

-- director : alfonso cuaron

-- screenplay : charles dickens (novel), mitch glazer

-- starring : ethan hawke, gwyneth paltrow, anna bancroft, robert de niro, chris cooper & hank arazia

-- certificate : iib(hk), r(us), 15(uk)

-- awards :

great expectations is another movie based on charles dicken's novel with the same name, great expectations. However. it is not the kind of faithful adaptation that david lean produced in 1946. on the other hand, cuaron's great expectations which is based on the original text loosely, is a modernization of the story. therefore, it makes no big difference whether you have read the novel beforehand or not.

it is a movie that is beautifully-shot and worth-watching. the movie opens in florida and we are introduced to finn (ethan hawke, and jeremy James kissner when finn is a child) who lives with his sister and her boyfriend, joe (chris cooper). finn is a gifted artist and he shows this when he is young and his drawings bring him to meet an escaped criminal, lustig (robert de niro). he tries his very best to help this convict, brings him food, wine and medicine. nevertheless, lustig is caught again by the police and this first storyline comes to an end but something unexpected will come up at the end.

the second storyline develops when finn gets a call from miss dinsmore (anne brancroft), who invites him to go to her big house and entertains her. finn meets her niece, estella (gwyneth paltrow) there. finn continues to be a regular visitor and the relationship between finn and estella develops. but about ten years later, estella goes off studying abroad and finn retreats to follow a simple life with her uncle as a fisherman for a couple of years.

then one day, a lawyer who represents a mysterious rich person, invites him to exhibit his paintings in new york and pays all his expenses. he resists at first but finally agrees and he meets estella when he arrives at new york. the mvovie then mainly focuses on the relationship between the two. later, estella is engaged to another man, walter plane (hank azaria) and rejects finn's love for her. nevertheless, all the paintings of finn are sold out and he becomes a successful artist.

the most unexpected part of the movie is the ending when finn finds out that all his paintings are actually bought by the same person. is the person miss dinsmore? No, he is lustig, the escaped criminal and in fact, he has arranged everything for finn's life. this ending, I can say, is the best and the most suprising part of the movie. finn thinks that his dream comes true when he becomes one of the young famous artists in new york but in fact, his fate is on other person's hands.

great expectations goes smoothly and the best thing is the cinematography and the production design. miss dinsmore's old large house is absolutely impressive, with overgrown trees and vines in the courtyard. It is just like detached from time and it'd look the same fifty years later.

there are several scenes that must be mentioned as they are so good. they are respectively the scene when finn draws estella when they are young and when they meet together in New York. they haven't spoken a word but they just express their emotions inside through their eyes. actually, these two scenes go in parallel and they are the most effective parts of the movie.

ethan hawke's performance is not as powerful as I was expecting and he is not that sure of himself as he seems. gwyneth paltrow is just perfect for estella who is icy cold and cruel to finn. the rest of the cast all give wonderful performance that add life to the movie.

finally, the music works well and captures the essence of the movie

[photo gallery]