Venice Review Round-Up: "Miral"

Day 2 of Venice brings the first reviews of Julian Schnabel's (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Israel/Palestine orphanage/liberation movement drama Miral. Schnabel's previous film was a big hit with critics and landed a number of major Oscar nominations (including Best Director). Unfortunately, if the first batch of reviews are any indication, his next Oscar hopeful (which the Weinsteins have reportedly made their #1 Oscar priority) isn't getting off to the best start:

Incontention's Guy Lodge specifically takes Schnabel's direction to task, and writes that he "awkwardly welds his pet visual and sonic tics onto a narrative that struggles to support them," and that "his approach feels both shoe-horned and fairly disingenuous in this context." Lodge also refrains from giving praise or criticism to the performances, though he suggests that Hiam Abbass is wasted in an old lady wig. ThompsonOnHollywood's Anne Thompson is slightly more positive, and writes, "while Miral packs an emotional punch, [Schnabel] tells the wrong story," and goes on to say that the film's bookend sections which focus on "the great Hiam Abbass" had her in tears.

Unfortunately, she's less kind to the sections that focus on Freida Pinto's titular Miral. Thompson writes, "[Miral's] story remains expositional and flat," and says that Pinto is "not an expressive actress." Derek Malcom of The London Evening Standard awards the film 3 out of 5 stars, and amidst a review that is mostly description/plot summary (boooo) says that the cast play their roles "with an emotional skill that points up the story convincingly."

Additional Reviews:

Variety: "Schnabel's style feels misapplied..."

The Hollywood Reporter: "Although too schematic and unfocused to garner much critical support, it has the kind of direct simplicity that could reach out to historically challenged audiences and politically minded festival juries."

The Independent (UK): "Miral is plodding at times, choppily edited and unevenly performed"/"At its most leaden, this is more like a school lecture on in Middle East history than it is a piece of drama." (***/*****)

Empire: "...simply dreadful...It's a film so obsessed with being about Big Important Stuff that it forgets all the important little stuff - er, like characters and good writing - and, as a result, it's a chore to sit through."

Venice Verdict: Schnabel misfires with a film that mishandles its subject matter, characters, and story, with performances that are hit and miss.