Reading the beautiful world

YOU'D have thought that even diehard Jane Austen fans would have had a surfeit by now.

The Jane Austen Book Club (M) 3 stars National release In the Shadow of the Moon (G) 3½ stars Limited release Night (PG) 3 stars Limited release YOU'D have thought that even diehard Jane Austen fans would have had a surfeit by now after numerous recent adaptations of the author's novels for the big and the small screen.

Still, The Jane Austen Book Club offers something a little different, as readers of Karen Joy Fowler's popular book will know. The conceit here is that a group of five Californian women, and one man, agree to meet on a regular basis to discuss and analyse Austen's books in the order in which they were written; and that their own lives, in various ways, come to reflect elements of Austen's characters.

The women are familiar with the books; the man is not. Indeed, he is more interested in science fiction. He is Grigg (Hugh Dancy), a boyish software designer who is discovered by Jocelyn (Maria Bello), a breeder of Rhodesian ridgebacks who lives alone and who seems more interested in dogs than in men. She thinks Grigg may be just what is needed to boost the spirits of her friend Sylvia (Amy Brenneman), a librarian whose husband, Daniel (Jimmy Smits), has just dumped her for another woman.

This scene, with its all-too-familiar content, is one of the better moments in the film, as the po-faced Daniel insists that "We can't think of this as a failure" and "There's a logic to us quitting while we're ahead" without, of course, taking into account Sylvia's feelings. When she discovers her replacement is 45 years old, she's horrified: "She's not even young!" Somehow it seems more of an insult.

The rest of the group consists of Sylvia's flighty lesbian daughter, Allegra (Maggie Grace), French teacher Prudie (Emily Blunt), who has never been to France and whose husband (Marc Blucas), after promising a longed-for trip to Paris, reneges; he cares more about his business than her happiness, she ruefully decides. Finally there is mother-hen Bernadette (Kathy Baker), who has survived six marriages but who retains her optimism despite it all.

This is the first film directed by Robin Swicord, who has, until now, adapted screenplays from difficult novels (Memoirs of a Geisha, Little Women) for other directors. She does a competent job here with material that probably reads better on the page than it looks on the cinema screen.

The early scenes have promise, as Swicord establishes the chaos of contemporary life: the traffic, the difficulties of parking the car, the omnipresent mobile phones, security systems in shops, ATMs that don't work properly. In addition, the characters are mostly interesting and some of the plotting is quite clever, despite a degree of predictability about it all.

Swicord has assembled a fine ensemble cast for this modest production though the usually ebullient Blunt (more memorable in My Summer of Love and The Devil Wears Prada) is forced to play a very stitched-up character here.

Emerging with the best role is the always reliable Bello, whose dog-loving Jocelyn is the film's most interesting character, apart from Austen, of course. The best thing about the film is that its combination of humour and modest emotion is never cloying. These are likable characters and for most of the running time we care about what happens to them.

***TWO other films, one British the other Australian, are what, for want of a better term, we might describe as film poems. They're not fiction, they're not documentaries and they're not travelogues. They rely, in different ways, on the beauty of the moving image. In the case of the British film, In the Shadow of the Moon, the material was already in existence: colour footage preserved in the archives of NASA of the first flights to the moon. The Australian film, Night, is a poetic rendering of the night-time hours in Australian landscapes.

The imagery in both films is nothing short of wondrous. Much of the NASA material, assembled by director David Sington, has rarely been seen, and the sheer beauty and mystery of space take the breath away. The film concentrates on Apollo 11, the first flight to land on the moon and, nearly 40 years after the event, it's still possible to be in thrall to the courage and achievement of the astronauts who made the flight and the technicians who made it happen.

Lawrence Johnston's Night, on the other hand, explores "the beauty of darkness" through the gorgeous images of Laurie McInnes: images of various Australian cities, some country towns, and sites such as Uluru. It starts spectacularly with thunderstorms lighting up the night sky and ends with a New Year's Eve fireworks display on Sydney Harbour.

You can't help feeling that the natural phenomenon is altogether more beautiful than the wasteful man-made event. Indeed, in this eraof concern about climate change, Night unavoidably reminds us of the incredible waste of power as office buildings remain illuminated 24 hours a day. The images are accompanied by a fine music score by the Australian composer, Cezary Skubiszewski.

Both films feature human narrators. NASA astronauts, with the notable and crucial exception of the reclusive Neil Armstrong, describe their emotions and feelings vividly, adding considerably to the power of In the Shadow of the Moon. The voice-overs and talking heads in Night, while belonging to some amiable characters, add nothing to the film and could have been dispensed with. The overwhelming power of these intensely visual experiences is in the images, the colours, the almost surreal effects and magical explorations of strange, dark worlds.