Despite the sweep and grandeur of this lush historical drama, Silk is still something of a snooze-fest. Directed by Francois Girard, who helmed the arthouse film The Red Violin, Silk is ponderous to the point of distraction. Its lead actors Michael Pitt and Kiera Knightley give some of the most uninspired performances of their career, while Alfred Molina just looks plain bored.

Silk takes place in Europe and Asia in the 19th century. A silkworm merchant (Michael Pitt) who is unhappily married to a school teacher (Kiera Knightley) in Europe, meets a Japanese concubine (Sei Ashina) in Japan and promptly falls for her. As if the long distance between Europe and Asia wasn't enough to kill the romance, Pitt actually becomes so obsessed with his Japanese lover that he braves the dangerous war-torn landscape of Japan to search for her again and again.

Despite the lush and exotic visuals, the historically-detailed sets and costume, and the excellent score, Silk is bogged down by its snails pace and (deliberately?) low-key performances from its otherwise interesting stars. Who knows what went through director Francois Girard's minds when he was directing his actors, but you can bet that "You've got to entertain the audiences!" was never one of his notes.

Zzzzz...