Thursday Movie Picks: Period Dramas

In the 25th week of 2020 for Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. We venture into period dramas as it’s film set during a moment in the past as it allow actors to go back in time and capture a certain period in time. Here are my three picks all directed by women from the early 2010s as well as being a reflection of sorts to these dark times we’re in:

1. Wuthering Heights

Andrea Arnold’s adaptation of the Emily Bronte novel is definitely a far more radical take in comparison to other versions of the film. Most notably in casting an African-Briton for the role of Heathcliff as it revolves a young man who has been adopted into a rich family as he falls for his adopted sister until they’re separated by forces beyond their control until they meet again as adults hoping to restart their relationship. Shot in a full-frame aspect ratio of 1:33:1 and on location in the north of Britain, it’s a film that refuses to play by the rules as it’s more about atmosphere and how the locations play up to the separation that both Catherine and Heathcliff endure throughout the film.

2. Lore

Cate Shortland’s adaptation of Rachel Seiffert’s novel The Dark Room is a 2012 World War II drama is an unconventional film that is set during its final years in Germany where a young woman takes her four younger siblings through Germany after their parents had been captured by the Allies for the work with the Nazis. It’s a film that showcases how the horrors of war can lead to some harsh reality for a young group of siblings as they’re also forced to realize that everything their parents and grandparents had taught them was wrong. Featuring a breakthrough performance from Saskia Rosenthal as the titular character, it is a coming-of-age film of sorts that doesn’t play by convention in favor of studying how those who had been taught all of these ideas only to realize that it’s a lie and how it lead to loss.

3. Belle

Amma Asante’s fictionalized film about Dido Elizabeth Belle and the 1779 painting that is set during a landmark moment in British rule as it relates to the slave trade. Featuring Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the titular role, it is a compelling drama that follows a young woman with a white father and black mother as she would be raised by her father’s relatives who give her love and a home as she also becomes close to her cousin Elizabeth. It’s a film that offers so much but it is also exploration of identity and what it means to be that identity without having to compromise and gain the approval of those who love and care for that person.

© thevoid99 2020