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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421715/ I'm sure you know the story, but for those who don't: Brad Pitt starts life as an old man-baby. The film follows him as he grows younger with time. The core of the story is his romance with Cate Blanchette's character. This film is going to garner at least a few Oscar nominations. A lot of people are going to love it, and it's going to make a lot of money. Definitely a crowd pleaser. That being said, I thought it was good, not great. It's certainly a departure for Fincher. There are a few moments where I thought I recognized his touch, but by and large he brings very capable direction to film rather than any trademarked style. The feel of the film is more of a combination of Big Fish and Forrest Gump than any of Finche's oeuvre. Visually, it's very appealing. The production design does a great job recreating various exotic period locales and the cinematography is great. The timeline covers a greater portion of the twentieth century, and the look of the film adapts to the different time periods. I see it getting nominated in both these categories. I was wondering how they would handle the old man birth, and was disappointed to see that he was born as a wrinkly baby, rather than Riget-style as a full grown vagina tearing son of a bitch. As Pitt's character grows up to a normal-sized old man, they rendered the face of the awkward child-sized senior in CG, which works well for the most part. There were times where he looked a little off, but that might be just because I had an eye out for it, and it never got into any uncanny valley weirdness. The writing is really good for the most part. There are a few hilarious moments, most of which are part of one (awesome) running gag. The film also has its moments of profundity, though some of these are cheapened by the narration, in which Pitt will occasionally spout off bits of Morgan Freeman-esque wisdom. As the film progressed, I felt myself getting swept up in the story. It seemed like it was building towards some epic-yet-tragic existential climax. Unfortunately, the third act is really weak. I was fully prepared to have my heart ripped out, but the story never hit that high note. lovely balloon analogy: the balloon was loving huge by the end of the second act. I was expecting it to pop and splatter sweet catharsis all over me, but instead, Fincher just slowly let the air out over the last 30 minutes. Exacerbating the poor ending are the film's bookends about a clock that runs backwards. While the connection to the story is obvious, they are unnecessary and sloppily worked into the plot. It seems like they were filmed at the last minute after the producers realized the ending was too weak and wanted to add something to give it a little more punctuation. The potential was there to make this film incredible. Unfortunately, it felt more like a wasted opportunity. Still, there were two really enjoyable hours in this 2 1/2 hour film. 3/5 Modot fucked around with this message at 09:24 on Dec 3, 2008 |
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Dec 3, 2008 09:03
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 11:04 |
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