Winter’s Tale has heart but lacks real magic

When Winter’s Tale was released theatrically on Valentine’s Day, the film was met with tepid to hostile reviews, scoring just 13% on Rotten Tomatoes. Our own Jeremy Fogelman called it a “bewildering mess” in his review, so I sat down to watch the new Blu-ray release with something less than wild enthusiasm. The two-hour film is based on a 627 page book by Mark Helprin. Writer and director Akiva Goldman was forced to distill an epic romance into a 120 page script, and unfortunately, the result is a bit lacking.

The story focuses on Peter Lake, a son of immigrants (dad is briefly played by Matt Bomer) in 1895 who were denied entry into the country because of an illness. They set the baby adrift in a model sailboat named City of Justice and the next thing we know, it’s 1916 and the baby has grown up to become Collin Farrell who is on the run from Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe) for reasons unknown. Peter discovers a white horse during his escape attempt, mounts the steed and magically flies over the iron gates to safety. But we still are unclear as to why Soames is after Peter and the horse … or is it a dog?

Soames uses some magic to locate Peter and the horse/dog, Peter escapes, breaks into the home of Isaac Penn (William Hurt), falls instantly in love with his daughter Beverly (Jessica Brown Findlay), who happens to be dying of consumption, and avoids Pearly’s clutches as the head to upstate New York to take up residence at the Lake of the Coheeries. Seems that Soames is actually a demon who has dominion over the five boroughs of New York but is forbidden to venture north by The Judge, aka Lucifer (played by a big name star in a small cameo which I won’t ruin). Beverly tells Peter that everyone has a miracle in them, and he believes he is her miracle and will prevent her from dying. He doesn’t, but that’s not the end of the story which jumps 100 years into the future (our present) without explanation. Peter is still Colin Farrell and Pearly is still determined to kill him once he gets whiff of him back in the city. (Still not sure whether he has been roaming the city for a hundred years or if he just suddenly woke up after being in limbo.)

Peter then meets Virginia Gamely (Jennifer Connelly) and her daughter Abby. Abby — surprise! — is dying from cancer, and now it seems Peter’s reason for being has become clear to everyone. (Peter also re-connects with Beverly’s younger sister, who is now an old woman played by Eva Marie Saint.) Except the audience who still has no clue what Peter is or why Pearly wants him, and the child, dead (he also had Beverly killed so Peter could not be her miracle, whatever that means). Unfortunately, we get very little in the way of plot exposition at this point because there’s about 30 minutes left to tell the rest of the story.

But even with all of the gaping plot holes, I still found myself moved by the love story and the corny ending. I did enjoy the relationship between Peter and Beverly, and the movie may have worked better had it been reworked to condense that story and expand on the present-day part. As it stands now, the audience gets totally invested in Peter and Beverly, but never has a chance to care much about Peter, Virginia and Abby. And we’re still baffled as to what the relationship is between Pearly and Peter (apparently, Pearly raised Peter and when he decided to leave Pearly’s gang, Pearly took offense). But, by the end, I still had a tear in my eye.

Warner Home Entertainment’s new Blu-ray release presents the film beautifully. The color palette is muted in the past and has a bit more color in the present, as intended. The story uses the concept of light as magic, and the lighting effects do enhance the scenes when applied. Detail is sharp as well (it should be noted that this was a digital production, and not shot on film although it does have a film-like quality). The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix isn’t intensive as far as the soundscape is concerned, but voices are clearly front and center while the film’s score and sound effects fill out the surrounds. It’s a perfectly fine representation of the theatrical experience.

The Blu-ray includes a handful of extras, but no audio commentary. These include:

Behind the Scenes: Winter’s Tale: A Timeless Love (6:08) — The actors and director discuss the concept of love which drives the story and how that idea was condensed from a 1000 page novel to a 120 page screenplay, as well as how New York is also a character in the story.

Behind the Scenes: Characters of Good and Evil (9:14) — The actors discuss working with each other, their relationships with writer/director Akiva Goldsman, and Colin’s relationship with the horse.

Additional Scenes (most of which do nothing to expand the story, but there is an interesting glimpse of a Native American family finding young Moses … erm, Peter on the shore which explains a scene later in the film with Graham Greene):

• “Peter’s Parents Sail Him Off to New York” Extended (1:42)
• “How Long You Been Doin’ This” Extended (1:34)
• “Athansor Breaks Free” Deleted (1:02)
• “I’d Snap Your Bones and Eat Your Eyes” Deleted (0:20)
• “Peter Visits Humpstone John” Extended (0:50)
• “Thems are Thieves” Extended (0:30)
• “Peter and Isaac Penn Discuss New Years” Deleted (1:08)
• “Yes, Baby” Deleted (0:20)
• “We Have to Stop the Treatments” Extended (1:40)
• “This One’s Personal” Extended (0:34)
• “Abby is Saved” Deleted (1:05)
• “Sometimes We Are Saved” Deleted (0:16)

Winter’s Tale could have been a great romantic film, but this certainly is a case where a book lives up to that “unfilmable” moniker. The story is just too dense to be distilled into a two-hour movie and perhaps would have worked better as a TV mini-series. Warner’s Blu-ray, though, is watchable enough but you still may be wondering what it was all about by the time the end credits roll. The movie is available as a single DVD (with the only extra being the Winter’s Tale: A Timeless Love featurette), and in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo with Ultraviolet Digital HD. Warner Home Entertainment graciously provided the Blu-ray/DVD Combo for review.