National Poetry Month: Dylan Thomas at the Tivoli

Tomorrow night is the last screening of "The Edge of Love," at the Tivoli. It's a  film about the brilliant poet Dylan Thomas -- sort of. Actually it's more about how his wife (played by Sienna Miller) and his old flame, Vera (Kiera Knightley) decide to become friends, rather than tear each other's hair out fighting over a guy. It's set during the Blitz in London, and like most British period films, offers plenty of eye candy with the costumes and set design. The Washington Times found the film to be pleasant enough, but the British media pretty well savaged it, including one commenter at The Guardian's online forums, who pronounced it "a bit poo." I reckon poetry types will like it, though, not only because there's lots of recitations of Thomas' poetry throughout (Matthew Rhys apparently does a great job of recreating the poet's recitation style), but every poet I know enjoys soaking up interesting visuals like a wick in lamp oil. I haven't seen it, so I am not making a claim for the number of stars to award it; I will say that though it could have shared a title with The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, I reckon the Dylan biopic is a better use of your theater-ticket dollars. --Stefene Russell