a review of 莫里斯

1st Annual Criterion Challenge Week 51: The Merchant Ivory Collection As my first real exposure to Merchant Ivory beyond clips on awards shows, this one met the expectations I had about their particular brand of literary adaptation: Beautifully shot and acted, idyllic imagery and gorgeous sets and costumes, with exacting socio-historical detail. It's a bit slow-moving, but I can see how this would have a lot of appeal for the same approximate audience as something like Downton Abbey or The Crown. For me, the most interesting thing about the movie was how towards the end it seemed like the most unacceptable thing about Maurice's romance wasn't that it was with another man, but that it was with a *gasp* commoner. It's a twist on the coming-out story that I don't think I've seen before, although it absolutely makes sense in a turn-of-the-century British context.