Well-orchestrated w/ a lot of skill; material is fine; seems like director wasn't overly inspired and did his job. Job well done, but uninspired.
Nolte is standout here.
Maybe it's the wrong type of inevitability to the material; or the lack of emotional depth, sticking next to the characters and their dynamics?
Shaggy and simple. About two developing, horny adolescents during summertime. Would've been fine w/ Mouret following either these threads (horniness or summer films) as a career.
Uncomfortable w/ the my own feelings of being attracted to these two young women. Judge Mouret for being so on the nose w/ it; hard to judge truth value apart from culture.
On the whole: enjoyable and horned up.
Beyond all its hype is its oddness: truly dim characters; an innocent looking up to an enigmatic American god and their complex psychological relationship; and the fallout and how its echoes twist in history. It makes sense that the director of Chopper made this; only he could; his focus on offbeat characters.
Thematically innovative: how does a man act when he fails to meet his own ideal? Can he open up and express his humanity with others (and in what circumstances)? Or will he fight himself every step of the way, fighting to save face to himself? Put like this, not all that innovative except for placing this theme firmly w/in genre and Fincher-ism.
Netflix was smart in giving Fincher carte blanche to pursue his guilty pleasures. Fincher pursued his fetish of…
