Silk movie posterAdapted from the literary novel by Alessandro Baricco, Silk is a nineteenth-century tale of romance, obsession and silkworm smuggling. Yes, silkworm smuggling. Beginning with an artfully shot oriental woman naked in a hot spring, we then get a bad narration by young Michael Pitt, the hallmark of a difficult translation from book to screen.

However stunningly beautiful as Silk undoubtedly is, it is hard to forget predecessors Manon Des Source, Chocolat and the Stella Artois commercials. Clearly following behind David Lean, Terence Malick and Bertolucci, professional Canadian Francois Girard's adaptation is a languid, lingering expression of longing that loses huge chunks of the novel, such that almost nothing interesting happens.

Never mind industrial revolutions, the opening up of Imperial Japan and subsequent revolts, drown in the lush score and sink into the epic visual poetry. Or not. Read more of this post