Reading Kate (2015) Reviews

• Poignant Rendering of Life's Journey

  DeborahBodkin2016-11-05

  Poignant Rendering of Life's Journey - Brilliant dramatization of the intellectual's challenge to discover true meaning in life. Kelly Worthington (as Kate) bares her inner journey as she portrays the ex-wife yearning for re-connection to life. Jefferson Moore carries the film with his compassion and humility. An opportunity to see how hiding fear behind pride and selfishness causes losses in our lives, yet redemption can touch us all if we are willing. While filmed in black and white, this technique serves the drama because B&W allows the focus to be on the inner journey and on human relationships, instead of scenery and external objects. As an allegory, this film succeeds admirably.

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• Another winner from the company behind the "Perfect Stranger" films

  davehof2016-04-10

  "Reading Kate" is a typically smart and understated production from Kelly's Filmworks, a company known for Christian faith-based films that opt for subtlety over strident preaching. As in "The Perfect Stranger" and "Pieces of Easter," "Reading Kate" is primarily a conversation between two people with different views of the world. In this case - two psychology professors once married, until Kate walked out on her husband and young daughter. The story begins 15 years later, with a call that prompts a meeting between the long-estranged couple. If you enjoyed the company's previous works you'll likely enjoy this one as well.

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• One crashing bore

  bkoganbing2019-02-02

  Watching Reading Kate put me in mind of a pair of Bette Davis films from the classic Hollywood era. The first is Dark Victory a truly outstanding film about a woman dying young that she got one of her Oscar nominations for. The second is Winter Meeting where Bette Davis and Jim Davis put the audience into the arms of Morbius with about an hour's worth of philosophical talk about the meaning of life. Reading Kate is close to the latter. A pair of academics once married to each other has the wife seek her former mate out. Kelly Worthington replete with Irish brogue has something a lot like what Davis had in Dark Victory, she's going blind. She seeks out her ex-husband Jefferson Moore and she wants to stay with him and have him read to her some of the classic works of literature. Later on they switch to philosophic texts and as this is a Christian film you know how this will go. This is not even a reasonable facsimile of Dark Victory which was a story of a vibrant woman facing terminal illness. It's more like Winter Meeting where the team of Davis and Davis just sit around and Yakety Yak. The film has some potential, but it gets one lifeless production.

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