Bright Star

I was relatively unfamiliar with the work of Jane Campion, Bright Star may not have been the best option to further delve into her oeuvre. It's a pretty basic costume drama, a familiar mix of drama and romance, not really the type of film that sits very well with me. She sticks neatly to genre conventions, so Bright Star didn't do much to change that.

The film focuses on the romance between poet John Keats and girl next door Fanny. Fanny's mom isn't a big fan of the relationship and tries to separate the two, but their love runs deep. But then Keats becomes ill and it looks like their love really isn't meant to be. It's a typical sob story.

Campion's direction is unremarkable, the performances are decent but rather restrained and safe a few beautiful scenes outside, there really isn't much of note here. The romance really didn't do it for me, the drama didn't hit the right marks and more than once it felt too much like cheap sentiment. Not very good.