Customer Reviews

Lolita

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Lolita has a great story with an excellent cast.

Lolita is a 1997 drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and is the second screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov. The film stars Jeremy Irons as Humbert Humbert and Dominique Swain as Dolores "Lolita" Haze, with supporting roles by Melanie Griffith as Charlotte Haze, and Frank Langella as Clare Quilty. It concerns the story of an English professor's obsession with his landlady's flirtatious daughter, and his desiring attempts to possess her. Lolita was originally filmed by Stanley Kubrick in 1962, when much of the novel's content was toned down significantly due to censorship restrictions. In a less conservative era, British director Adrian Lyne began filming his own adaptation.

Customer Review:
Lolita is totally worth getting on DVD!!
(The DVD sold by Amazon is in fact a Chinese DVD version of Lolita, but plays on all DVD players.)

Lolita is a horribly disturbing tale of pedophilia and the lengths that some people will go to to pursue it and disguise it. It's very hard to watch. In fact, the first time I tried to watch it, I couldn't. That said, it's beautifully done and perfectly cast. I am not normally a fan of Melanie Griffith, but she is superb in being a naive female who has a smattering of jealousy for her blossoming daughter. She appears genuine in her desire to be loved and respectable. Dominique Swain does an absolutely fantastic job of moving between the vulnerable little girl who wants a daddy and the budding teen. She tries to desperately to be as grown up as the role she is thrust into, but you can't help but see through to the tender little girl. Jeremy Irons is wonderful. You can see his mind calculating then fighting against itself. He's supposed to be Lolita's dad, and sometimes acts like it, but we can see Lolita taking the power away from him. In the end, Jeremy Iron's explanations and excuses for his failings expose his mental illness to the world. The last picture we see of Lolita barefoot, poor and pregnant is all that could be expected after being so horribly abandoned by her dad, neglected by her mom, and used by the other men in her life that she just wanted to love. I'm not a pedophile so I can't tell you if this is a realistic view of how it could be, but it rings true. It's full of contradictions, pain, joy, and confusion- just like life.

I actually did not read the reviews until after the package arrived and I had not yet opened.. I was scared that it would not work on my dvd player but just popped it in and it is working just fine. Not sure why Some people are saying it doesn't work on theirs. I live in the US. Anyway.. Great Film.. Sadness, Beauty I love it much more than the original

I thought this version of the movie was a great adaptation from the novel which I have also read. I thoroughly enjoy when a movie attempts to follow the story line from a book closely. Because the plot revolves around a taboo of any time era, the movie succeeds in making its audience uncomfortable. I will say in reading both book and film, I found myself more uneasy and uncomfortable watching the movie in certain scenes. It's not that the movie is graphic in a lot of sexual matter but it personally made me cringe in disgust a few times. So with that being said, I would agree with the R rating because its subject matter is atypical of what people usually see in movies. Because the story line revolves around a relationship with an older man and a girl of only 12 years old, the rating should be R to warn people.

I thought the casting of the characters was a great depiction of how they are described in the novel. Seeing as how Lolita is a young girl, Dominique Swain was the perfect choice. She looked the proper age and acted in ways an immature growing child would. Dominique accurately captured the naïve innocence of a child maturing into a manipulative teen ager. Though you may find her annoying, she was the perfect actress cast for the role.

Obviously with any book adaptation details are left out or certain things are added for the Hollywood excitement but for the most part I felt this movie to be more true to the storyline then the 1960's version of the movie. It was important to include details of Humbert's past to show the audience why he becomes the man you see in the film. The only thing I would criticize is just how ruthless and manipulative they make Lolita out to seem in the movie. As she spends more time with Humbert they portray her to be much more heartless in the movie than the book. Other than that issue, a great film if you can get past the moments of awkwardness.

What they do not tell you when you purchase this movie is that:

1: it is an EXTREMELY low resolution copy. It's like a copy of a copy of a copy that someone took from a VHS from when it played on TV and then burned to a DVD using a cheap burner on a laptop in somebody's dorm room.

And 2: the subtitles are mandatory. You can either watch it with english subtitles or chinese subtitles, but there will be subtitles.

I cannot believe that there is not a legitimate DVD copy of this movie anywhere, and I can't believe that Amazon is allowing this to be represented as if it were a legitimate copy.

Shame on the seller and shame on amazon!

I loved this movie! The characters in it will make you cry! "Lolita" is a wonderful love story of a troubled girl and an older man. I believe you will be drawn into this movie as I was and you will not be able to forget it. It stays with you!

The movie was much better than the original, and it also followed the book very well. I found it very easy to follow and a very interesting film to watch. I would recommend watching it without hesitation.

Adrian Lyne's adaptation of Lolita has it up and downs but overall, it was exactly what was needed. The design elements of the film were absolutely gorgeous, distracting, and interesting. However, I would like to discuss the acting in the film. First is that of Jeremy Irons who plays our narrator, Professor Humbert. I found him to be very direct in his dialogue. He also created a sense of boyish charm to the character of Humbert, which helped personify his actions. He did not seem just like a creepy old man chasing after a young girl, but he had such tenderness towards Lolita that outshined his questionable nature. Now as for the title character Lolita, Dominique Swain, I found to be very mature. She did not seem believable as a young girl, and when watching the film I found her to just be Charlotte Haze's daughter until later learning she was in high school. I thought she played with age too much and did not establish or ground herself in one certain behavior mindset. As I have mentioned Charlotte Haze, played by Melanie Griffith, being Lolita's mother; I felt did not deliver. I found her annoying qualities to be desperate and half-hearted. I did not believe her to be dominant in the household or have any character depth. Got a sense of just doing a character. Overall, I found this film to be very enjoyable and entertaining, however I felt that Jeremy Irons carried the film through to the end.

This DVD has no regional coding, and can be played in any DVD player. Arrived with no problems.

This movie version was awesome! I feel like this actress really captured the role of Lolita. She reminded me a lot of what I was like when I was 12. It was less of a spoiled brat attitude than an attitude of a trapped girl yearning to escape. Humbert was awesome, too. Much less "slimy" and creepy that the original actor. He seemed like a normal guy who may attract young crushes. I love that this movie was much more in detail, it gave you a realistic idea of the types of abuse that Lolita was suffering/trying to escape from. I also enjoyed the ending much better, when Humbert is shooting the playwright. Fantastic!