Quart Knee – Google

“An impure love is not love to me. To admire another man’s wife is a pleasant thing, but sensual desire indulged for its own sake is greed. A kind of gluttony. A misuse of something sacred which is given to us so that we may choose the one person with whom to fulfill out humanness. Otherwise, we might as well be cattle.” Review of movie, not of the book: Cinematically this version of Anna Karenina is unique and beautiful. The sets and costumes are bold and lavish without being pretentious. Quite honestly, the costumes alone were worth the journey. That being said, the vast majority of characters in Anna Karenina (at least this version) are entirely unrelatable, even considering the era in which it’s portrayed. Anna particularly lacks fundamental scruples which in turn brand her more of a whiny petulant child than a nurturing mother of two. Vronsky’s philandering nature easily predicts the future of their relationship. Alexie Kernin, a man whose power is well-known throughout the country as the bond holding conflicting groups together, is blinded by loyalty of marriage to the point of unforgivable weakness and continuously turning his cheek to keep an unfaithful woman. While apparently, infidelity runs in the family as Anna’s brother – a character whose constant unfaithfulness servers as a comic relief of sorts – sleeps his way through all the eligible women in Moscow leaving his wife to daydream of a love she’ll never experience. Thankfully Kitty and Konstantin redeem the human wreckage of this tale by displaying maturity (Kitty) and forgiveness (Konstantin) as positive growth. The missing ingredient in this film, which is palpable throughout its entirety, was chemistry. Of all things. With such an ensemble of seasoned actors it’s hard to believe such an emotional journey through this group’s life would fall so flat. By the end, I was rooting for the train.

2/14/22 Update on review: After mulling over some aspects of the film, I’m increasing the start rating to 3.5. The most intriguing part of this particular story is the way each character perceives their actions and intentions for and against one another. Each interpretation of the events leading up to and including ‘the incident’ were both pronounced and subtle, I’m impressed the film was able to capture both so equally (hence the additional star). 1/20/22 Double edged sword, I'm afraid. The cast was great, the three-tier perspective of the same incident was a fantastic idea. However, the execution fell flat for me. The story overall felt disjointed in a way. Prior to the assault, the battle sequences didn't seem to drive the plot as much as they should. The placement of Marguerite's chapter at the end was a very poor decision, especially given the length of the film.

LuLaRich is the epitome of witnessing a train wreck. I could easily empathize with some of the 'retailers' involved; they were searching for something more in their life and sold into a rotten - quite literally in some cases - situation. From an outside perspective, you could easily tell where this so called "blessed lifestyle" was headed. Not only did LuLaRoe financially destroy thousands of people, but equally ruined families were left in their wake. The manipulation tactics put upon some of these women was astounding. As the series progressed the pressure to alter family dynamics (insisting husbands quit their jobs), aggressively encouraging surgical weight loss procedures, and the forceful comparison of Deanne and Mark to religious prophets was extremely uncomfortable. What boggles my mind is this; during the documentary, it's clear that the women at the top (trainers, mentors, etc.) were aware of what was occurring and blatantly ignored their good judgement out of pure greed. Almost all the interviewees are just as responsible and culpable for what transpired financially in regards to their 'team'. Each one candidly admitted they "had a feeling something bad was happening" and continued to collect money off the backs of new recruits. I have no sympathy for their plight.