Cold Mountain

The journey on which Jude Law’s character embarks is adorned with excessively self-absorbed events (what are those cameos for?) and the waiting endured by Nicole Kidman’s character is lightened by Renée Zellweger’s overly eccentric comic performance. The two main storylines thus run in parallel without any need for connection. Does Nicole even need a man in the household since Renée’s arrival? If I were the filmmaker, I would have given Renée a spanking so that she wouldn’t draw all of the attention to herself. Cut out the forty minutes of the film with her in it and paste them together into a pleasant short comedy. But I’m still giving Cold Mountain a respectable four stars, because the actors are excellent, a few moments are very powerful and the formalistic aspect is perfect. Every shot and the entire production design, even in the least important places, are polished to the last detail and beautifully in sync with the shuffling narrative. (01/28/2004)

Return to Cold Mountain impressed me positively only at the very beginning and towards the end; everything in between is nice to look at, but without any inner juice or atmosphere. (01/25/2007)

Visual perfection and breathtaking performances. Rarely have I felt so invested in the main characters and rooting for them to have a happy ending. Therefore, the ending comes as a fatal blow, negating any expected sweet or bitter reunions and instead delivering a gripping twenty-minute catharsis that resonates thoroughly in every sense. Who could have guessed that Cold Mountain, being only Minghella's second and yet forever final truly great film. (05/14/2006)

Cold Mountain is exactly as I wanted it; gentle, romantic, but also very rough and sincere. Anthony Minghella is a great director and storyteller, and Cold Mountain is a finely-tuned masterpiece down to the last detail, musically, technically, and dramaturgically. (03/26/2004)