REVIEW: Winter’s Tale

If you’re a hopeful romantic and believe in tons of miracles, you’ve found your place in a Winter’s Tale.

Set in New York City, Peter Lake (Colin Farrell), an abandoned orphan, is always on the run. Constantly escaping his crimes of burglary and his former boss and mentor, the evil Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe), he stumbles upon a magical white horse that pretty much does what it wants to do. Lake founds a friend in the horse and trusts the horse’s instinct, guiding him wherever he may take him. Gaining a way to freedom, Lake decides to escape town but not before the horse leads him to the house of Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay). Falling in love at first sight, the two manage to give us a taste of what we all want once in our lives: somebody to save us and give us a miracle.

There is no denying the impeccable chemistry between Farrell and Findlay, making them the perfect couple to portray this short-lived romance. Beverly is suffering from consumption, a disease with a constant fever to the extent that she sleeps on the roof of her home in the middle of the winter. With just little time left in her life, she manages to save Lake from his ways and leading him to his true destiny. After a confrontation with Pearly and his men, Lake is seen to be pushed off a bridge into what we think is his death, but turned out to be a time jump into our modern day world and forgetting who he is. He then meets Jennifer Connelly’s character, Virginia Gamely, who has a little girl named Abby who is dying from cancer. Both help Lake regain his memory and set out to finish what Beverly had written for him in the stars all along. “Winter’s Tale” is truly a film that leaves you believing, that in some way, all is right in the world. In a comforting sense, I am okay with that.

Being a huge fan of Downton Abbey’s own Lady Sybil, I was very excited to see this film with Jessica Brown Findlay at the time of it’s initial release, but thanks to Ryerson University Student Life, I was privileged enough to attend an advanced screening and take a peek at it before it is released in theatres this Valentine’s Day. I had the chance to meet Colin Farrell back when he was in Toronto for the remake of “Total Recall” a couple of years ago. Check out my photo with him below.

And if you have nothing to do this Valentine’s Day, I recommend hitting up the theatres and checking out this heartwarming film. Trailer below.