A second viewing won me over. It's an important story presented with great beauty and wonderful acting. I got the sense Douglas had great love and total control of his film; he's the lanternist giving us a show. Characterizations seem a bit odd with the villains & upperclass being broad caricatures while the laborers are gently drawn, but in context it all feels right. I also love the stylized visual touches and fourth wall-breaking moments. The Australia sequence is like a great 2nd film.

Peaks early with visceral imagery and idiosyncrasy. Begins to drag and resort to didactic narrative and fourth wall; whilst the story would have sufficed. Forty minutes of advertisements couldn't have helped, to be fair.

Released during the Thatcher years, it's like one big middle finger to everything she was trying to do to the lower class. It is an excellent, incredibly beautiful piece of filmmaking with a warm sense of humour. I loved the wink at the audience from Douglas when the lanternist is praised near the end of the film - it could have come off as smug, as is the case with Tarantino's similar comment in Inglourious Basterds, but instead I found it downright charming and completely earnt.