Howards End Reviews

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. First of all, there was a time when the James Ivory/Ismail Merchant team was the unbeatable champion in the British costume drama genre and this movie was definitely one of their biggest critical successes. Well, I was rather surprised by how little I actually remembered it and, to be honest, I wasn't exactly blown away while rewatching this flick. Indeed, in my opinion, it is such a rather convoluted story and I was wondering how all these characters were supposed to be connected with this plot. Basically, it was some kind of jigsaw puzzle and it took such a long time to reach its conclusion. On top of that, I always find it rather difficult to care about the so difficult life of the British upper-class. Still, when they are so well made like this one, it work just fine, even for me. Above all, there was a very strong cast (Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins). Back in those days, Anthony Hopkins just gave his breakthrough performance in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ and Emma Thompson was definitely one of the most successful actresses so they were both at the top of their game (Thompson would eventually win the Academy Award for the Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in this movie). A year later, the very same team would work again with both Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins resulting in ‘The Remains of the Day’ which would be also critically acclaimed. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn't really work for me, it is still a really solid costume drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.