![]() ![]() ![]() Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren play Leo Tolstoy and his wife in the days leading up to the writer's death, and the tumultuous relationship they shared, she feeling brushed aside by the author because of his commitment to his work and the Tolstoyan movement that developed around it. Despite its impressive cast and juicy subject, something about it just doesn't quite click. "The Last Station" should have been great, but it settles for being merely good. Reviewed by evanston_dad 6 / 10 You've Got Plummer and Mirren Now Give Them More to Do One that, as well, I can recommend to anyone who enjoys good acting and watching interesting characters being developed by and through it. Still, it is a very well-crafted movie, one that I could easily watch again with no diminished pleasure. This is not a film for the ages, a Citizen Kane or a Rules of the Game, a Potemkin or such. Viewers such as myself will just have to go read a book about Tolstoy for that additional information, which is certainly not a bad thing. I realize, however, that that is not the norm in modern movies, and I certainly had no problems following what was going on without it. I would have appreciated a little dialogue somewhere explaining more about that. I went into it knowing virtually nothing about Tolstoy's life or the movement that was developed out of his later writings. My only very slight reservation about this movie is just a personal preference. You grow to like these characters a lot, but there is no attempt to yank your emotions. Still, the director keeps things moving along, never veering into the sentimental or the cute. There is not really much of a plot here it's more of a character study. And they are realized by first-rate performances. You continue to learn more about them, see more facets of their character. The characters are fleshed out and developed in complexity as the movie goes along. There is nothing to fault in this movie, really, and pretty much everything to praise. Reviewed by richard-1787 9 / 10 A very enjoyable movie ![]()
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