Such a soft, delicate, on-the-surface minor tale that packs in so many major themes. The love story between Domenico and Antonietta is positively darling. They’re charming little smitten-ness, the sense that maybe he’s projecting more feeling onto her than she is for him, but the way you can feel his heart burst open when she walks into a room, when he catches her glance, when she smiles upon noticing he’s there.
The chemistry between the young first-time actors Sandro Panseri…
Michael Clayton is one of my all-time favorite films, and it was a pleasure to spend an hour with the legend himself, Tony Gilroy, for a deep-dive conversation all about the troubles and triumphs of bringing this legal thriller masterpiece to life. We also got into the tumultuous, shambolic success of the Bourne franchise, the vastly underrated Duplicity, what’s coming in the new season of Andor and what his next project might be.
The emotional wavelength of this one is very much in my wheelhouse. Yearning and despair, the push for romantic fulfillment and the agony of your own demons prohibiting you from engaging normally with others. Swirling around lust and love, never getting it right and toiling away in your own constant struggle for peace.
As much as the vibes were all there for me, I did find the story a little sluggish and rudimentary, and the characterizations one-note at times. Props to Shinji Sōmai for taking a Roman porno check and turning in something this artistic and beautifully bittersweet, though.
If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard of this Bob Clark directed, Richard Matheson written, Gene Hackman starring picture, it’s because it’s really, really terrible. Hackman being put in this kind of cool-guy Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis role is one of the very few times in his career where he feels miscast. But that's nothing compared to whatever the hell they thought they were doing by putting Dan Aykroyd opposite him. Tough watch.
Listen, I don’t disagree with anything this movie is saying about the commodification of women’s bodies and how that intersects with ageism (both internalized and externalized) and the nature of fame in the industry. But I think it’s got a Ruben Östlund level shallowness, lack of curiosity and insistence on punishing its audience with the same tepid observations slammed in your face like concrete over and over again into oblivion.
This is somehow 2 hours and 20 minutes of movie…
Alright, listen. This movie....
I’ll say for the first half I was like, okay whatever this is fine. Sure, it’s all artifice with no depth or dimension to it. There’s no attempt at characterization beyond “woa how evil!” or “aw damn they’re so haunted.” Who are these people? What do they care about? What do they feel? Doesn’t matter because “oooo creepy and dark.” It’s just generic procedural hokum, moving through the motions without any momentum or spark of creativity.…
