How The New Anna Karenina Reinvents A Classic Without Destroying It In The Process

Every year, we get plenty of costume dramas and literary adaptations, and while they come in a lot of shapes and sizes, generally they can be reduced to their essential components: flowing gowns, antiquated hairdos, rampant tastefulness. A segment of moviegoers will always love these movies simply for their pleasing familiarity, but that doesn’t stop filmmakers from trying to monkey with the formula, whether it’s by throwing ’70s rock songs into a 14th-century setting (A Knight’s Tale), by bringing Shakespeare into the modern age (10 Things I Hate About You, the Ethan Hawke Hamlet), or just being by Baz Luhrmann. No matter the specific approach, these re-imagined films are all trying to prove how relevant their stories are to today’s moviegoer. It can be imaginative, but it can also be annoyingly gimmicky, calling attention to how “irreverent” the filmmakers are. More »