Reaching for the Moon
Director: Bruno Barreto
Cast: Gloria Pires, Miranda Otto, Tracy Middendorf, Treat Williams, Marcello Airoldi, Lola Kirke, Luciana Souza
Rating: (M)
Two stars (out of five)
Well not normally, but when you factor in a love triangle involving a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and a prominent Brazilian architect, perhaps there's a chance?
In 1951, American poet Elizabeth Bishop (Miranda Otto) set off on a journey to circumnavigate South America by boat.
Living off her inheritance, Bishop was no stranger to flights of travel fancy, often using her excursions as an influence on her writing.
But after a stopover in Brazil that was supposed to last only a couple of days, she met Lota (Gloria Pires), a politically connected architect who was in a relationship with Bishop's friend Mary (Tracy Middendorf).
In what seems like a few hours, just enough time for Lota to get over her initial dislike for Bishop's aloofness and for Bishop to warm to her new surroundings, the two woman casually cast Mary adrift and begin a relationship that would last for 15 years.
This is where Reaching for the Moon comes unstuck.
Due to a desire to cram as many events of this period into two hours as possible, far too many unrelated episodes are hurriedly glossed over in an attempt to get to the next.
Both Pires and Otto struggle admirably with a script that is a little too directionless to generate any real sense of warmth, intrigue or emotion.
- Mark Orton
