Movie - Barney's Version [Japan DVD] BLSM-16

There's an old axiom that seldom are individuals all good or all bad. But if people are generally a little of both, how do we know if they are one or the other? Mordecai Richler introduces us to a protagonist with a big heart as well as equally big warts and poses this question: Is he a good man or not? Though most people have good intentions, we don't live with people deep down in their souls where their good intentions lie. We live with them in the real world, with the choices they make, and the consequences of those choices--generally approaching another's character by way of his choices and actions. Barney's Version is, foremost, a beautiful piece of art but also a film that presents us with a dilemma to just that approach. In the first instance, it's a gorgeous film--visually sumptuous, luminous characters, rich in story and emotional authenticity, and laden with golden performances, especially from Giamatti, who's established himself as a dean of American performing arts. No explosions, no hardware, no ILM special effects--just a movie so sensuously textured you feel as though it reaches out from the screen and wraps you in a sheet of silk. In the second instance, we see people suffer the choices Barney Panofsky makes. But Barney is far too multi-dimensional for us, or the people in his life, to write off his moral character so easily. The elements of his story--the vicissitudes of an ordinary man's life; his delicate relationships with wife, father, and friends; his pleasures and pains; his desires and dreads--might have come to be seen as too ordinary, too unremarkable. The triumph of this film is that if deftly assembles all the components of remarkable cinema to compel us to see the extraordinary in an ordinary man's--even a flawed man's--life. And it is with this imperfect and complex individual that Richler and Konyves put forth their question and partially answer it. Sometimes--and it's not quite clear when--the character of someone with seemingly insurmountable personal defects can't be completely defined by the sum total of his bad choices. It's not a finite answer, and each viewer is left to reach his own conclusion. But in presenting us with that challenge and this wonder-filled story, Barney's Version is masterful and, like all great art, rises well above the question it originally poses.

I initially saw "Barney's Version," having never heard of it, at its New York premiere, expecting Dustin Hoffman to be there. He wasn't, but, that night, I experienced something I never had before (I'm 60). Yes, I had never cried so much from a film after laughing so much from the same film. Paul Giamatti wuz robbed, as he shoulda won the Oscar. Sure, Colin Firth was excellent, but Paul's acting was on a level that we experience perhaps once in a decade. Dustin is as terrific as he was in "Midnight Cowboy" & "Rain Man"--only subtler. Rosamund Pike, wearing auburn wigs throughout the film, is wonderful--a former Bond girl and Oxford graduate from England (in real life) as the most desirable woman one could ever imagine--brains, beauty, body, & wit to boot--the very essence of tranquility. I think that, for example, Jack Nicholson, Bette Davis, and Katharine Hepburn is/were great. However, there is/was always a bit of Jack, Bette & Kate in all their films and in real life. Rosamund transcends that trio, because she has created, with amazing intensity and with an American accent, someone who could never exist, except in our hearts and minds. And in every one of her scenes, it is virtually impossible to look at anyone else. There is a scene, immediately after the protagonist's second wedding, that I found to be the most exciting of my life. Too bad I can't give it away. Well, I can, but that wouldn't be nice. Minnie Driver, as wife # 2 (of 3), is simply marvelous--acting at its peak. Many supporting players are superb as well. I'll single out Harvey Atkin, as Barney's second father-in-law, Thomas Trabacchi, as Barney's close friend from Italy, and Scott Speedman, as Barney's heroin & cocaine-using & opium & hashish-smoking best friend. This film is Barney's version of what occurred in order to refute a retired detective's memoir that accused Barney of murder. But the possible murder is far from the focal point of the film. Much more important is Barney's romance with the love of his life. Luckily, we get to observe, mostly through flashbacks, the final 36 years of his amazing life (beginning at age 30) and the ending ranks as one of the greatest ever--right up there with that of "2001: A Space Odyssey." By the way, I've read the novel & the screenplay, but I prefer the finished product of the film most of all. As of October 30, 2011, I've seen it 31 times, but I'm sure that number will change.

Barney’s Version is an excellent film with exceptional performances by Paul Giamatti and cast, particularly Dustin Hoffman.It is a funny, witty, dramatic, and ultimately, charming story of a resilient man recounting his life story as he remembers it.The ending of the film portrays a realisation that we all live a life of joy and experience mistakes that can alter our lives forever.Especially when we sit back and think of what could have been.

I have watched in cinema and I loved it.

Starting off with comedy during Barney's youth, it moves through his time back in Montreal as a young man through to his old age. Funny at times but moving too. A very good ensemble cast and his usual excellent performance from Paul Giamatti.

Excellent acting by a good cast. I love the wit, the cleverness of the discussion, of the situation. very well done - I laugh to the floor, but then cried discretely. Highly recommended !

Right up there with Sideways. Puerile, poignant, magnificent. Don't be put off by the sluggish start - give it time.