"SILK" HAS KEIRA STAND ALONE

Another week, another new Keira Knightly film. How does she do it?

Of course, some films take a long time to make, especially if you happen to be the lead. Pirates of the Caribbean took huge chunks out of KK’s life, even though they made two of the three at the same time.

Knightly's latest entry is a different kettle of celluloid altogether, with her grabbing a minimum amount of screen time even though her cute look is being used to promote the picture.

No surprise there, as the other woman in the story is a wordless concubine, known in the film only as The Girl.

The reason Keira gets short-changed in the plot is that this is a French saga, set in the 19th century, where her husband kisses her Adieu early on to travel to Japan, ostensibly to bring back a sack of clandestine silkworms but really to fall into lust with said concubine.

Keria’s brief appearance a side, Brits are in short supply this week, after a bumper display last week.

But don't too much into this paucity. British talent offers a pack of starring roles next week: Brick Lane, the story of lovelorn Bangladeshis in London’s East End of London; American Gangster, with director Ridley Scott giving his Gladiator treatment to drug dealing in 1970s New York; The Jane Austen Book Club, featuring brilliant performances by Emily Blunt and Hugh Dancy; and Beowulf, with Ray Winstone and Gerard Butler leading the attack.

Filed November 5, 2007.