When Love Comes (1998 film)

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When Love Comes Along
Directed by Garth Maxwell
Produced by Jonathan Dowling
Michele Fantl
Starring Rena Owen
Dean O'Gorman
Simon Prast
Nancy Brunning
Sophia Hawthorne
Simon Westaway
CinematographyDarryl Ward
Edited byCushla Dillon
Release date
  • 16 September 1998 (1998-09-16)
Running time
94 min.
CountryNew Zealand
LanguageEnglish

When Love Comes Along is a 1998 New Zealand drama film directed by Garth Maxwell. The film was produced by Jonathan Dowling and Michele Fantl.

Contents

Cast

Reception

In Variety Glenn Lovell says "Owen’s strong, understated performance and decidedly nonexploitative handling of sensitive material can’t cover for fragmented narrative and serious focus problems. " [1] New York Times reviewer Stephen Holden writes "Finally, not even Ms. Owen's screen presense and the actors' intensely earnest performances can pull together the strands of this meandering, indulgent film." [2] Empire's William Thomas gives it 2 stars. He says "Abandoning the hypnotic psychosis of his deranged Gothic debut, Jack Be Nimble, New Zealander Garth Maxwell has here fashioned an uninvolving melodrama that mixes music and emotion to largely soporific effect." [3] Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail gave it 2 stars and writes "In the imitative hands of writer-director Garth Maxwell, this picture seems a tiny but classic example of the self-imposed fate elected by certain foreign films in the throes of the U.S. cultural onslaught. Other than the Kiwi inflections, there's nothing remotely indigenous about the movie, there's nothing that anchors it to the particularities or peculiarities of its native land." [4] Phoebe Flowers of the Miami Herald gave it 2 stars and says Maxwell "can't quite create an effective atmosphere of romance or comedy. and were it not for the strong performance of Rena Owen (Once Were Warriors), When Love Comes might be an outright failure." [5] The Vancouver Sun's Marke Andrews also gave it 2 stars. He writes it is a movie "in which characters wring their hands with emotions that never make a connection with the audience." [6] In the Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas writes "Maxwell displays a talent for dialogue and direction — and also for apt song lyrics — to make these people engaging and worth caring about. Owen and Prast, both of whom are well-seasoned actors, possess a wit and depth that lend gravity to a film intent on capturing the skittishness and tentativeness that so often accompany matters of the heart." [7]

References

  1. ↑ Lovell, Glenn (1 November 1998), "When Love Comes", Variety
  2. ↑ Holden, Stephen (25 June 1999), "'When Love Comes': Churning in a Self-Pity Bath Can Whip Up the Suds", New York Times
  3. ↑ Thomas, William (13 November 2001), "When Love Comes Review", Empire
  4. ↑ Groen, Rick (10 December 1999), "Love should keep its mouth shut", The Globe and Mail
  5. ↑ Flowers, Phoebe (17 September 1999), "When Love Comes lethargic, unmoving", The Miami Herald
  6. ↑ Andrews, Marke (3 March 2000), "Kiwi film missing a beat", The Vancouver Sun
  7. ↑ Thomas, Kevin (20 August 1999), "Personal Crossroads at Heart of 'Love'", The Los Angeles Times


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