Jane Eyre

Film director Cary Fukunaga won a Best Directing award from the 2009 Sundance Film Festival for his debut feature, Sin Nombre, which was a gritty film about illegal immigrants caught in the violence of Mexican gangs while trying to make their way north. Now he turns his attention to Charlotte Brontë’s classic, Jane Eyre. An odd transition? Perhaps, but it’s a good one. Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre is dark and moody, just as fans would hope, and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) gives a lovely, nuanced performance as Jane, though she can hardly be considered “plain,” as the book and script demand. Fukunaga builds the suspense with small jolts along the way, and the film is quite beautiful. Michael Fassbender’s Rochester is angry, passionate, and tragic, a complicated companion to the forthright and determined Jane. All this with the added bonus of Dame Judi Dench. Eyre-heads everywhere can rejoice. (Focus Features)