★★★ Reds

[Gino: 3.0 sp]

Gino says: 'This 1981 film co-written, directed by, and starring Warren Beatty is a near-epic about American writer and communist John Reed. It also stars Diane Keaton with whom Reed has a long and complicated artistic and romantic relationship. This tells the story of how their lives intersect with the early 20th century revolutionary events.

This film was fine, but honestly I wasn't overly impressed. Given the 3hr 14min running time I expected to be more absorbed in the protagonists' trials and tribulations. I was mostly unmoved. One problem for me is Diane Keaton. I feel like I am blaspheming even saying it, but I always find her a bit distracting in films as if too much of "her" makes it into her character (or at least her acting is not very different from film to film, let's say). So if you see one film with her, you might lover her. But 6 films and you get distracted.

The film was also peppered with commentary by people who lived in those circles at the time. Perhaps paradoxically, I enjoyed those bits, even though I didn't think it added much to the film. Anyway, all in all a solid film but not too note-worthy for me. '