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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Nov 9, 2017 17:31:58 GMT
Saw this the other day and liked it mostly for the acting... this might be one of my favorite performances I've seen from Mara. She plays a really complicated character and handles the behavioral shifts like a pro - the way she switches between outright hostility and lingering affection for this guy.
I'd give the film itself something like a 7/10. It attempts to make the Mendelsohn character too sympathetic, and I think it could have actually been more effective without the constant flashbacks. I get that they're trying to evoke the characters' memory of what happened, but I still didn't feel like they really added anything, and I would have preferred if the film stayed focused on a no-frills confrontation. Maybe a couple of the flashbacks worked well, but for the most part it was overkill and felt needlessly shoehorned, like the filmmakers needed to fill out the runtime with more material. Still worth watching for the performances alone.
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Post by stephen on Nov 9, 2017 18:32:07 GMT
I really didn't like it. It's dully performed and scripted, and despite some achingly obvious attempts at a visual style, it still feels like a third-rate stage play.
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Post by Kings_Requiem on Nov 9, 2017 18:42:57 GMT
I thought it was pretty much perfect. The performances are both fantastic and are my wins for the year (I put the film in 2017) and I had no problem with the flashbacks or the fact that the overall feel of the film was "stagey". To me it played almost like a thriller which only enhanced the overall feel. I do see how it could be controversial for people, though, with regard to Mendlesohn's character and the film probably could have been a little more condemning toward him, but it had no effect on my overall experience.
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Zeb31
Based
Bernardo is not believing que vous êtes come to bing bing avec nous
Posts: 2,557 
Likes: 3,794
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Post by Zeb31 on Nov 9, 2017 22:42:17 GMT
I thought it was an inexplicable mess, to be frank. It keeps veering away from everything that makes it interesting at the outset because it never allows Una and Ray's confrontation enough time to develop. Whenever it seems like it's going somewhere, we cut away from the two of them to waste time on some totally unnecessary, filler-y parallel subplot that has no business being there at all. I saw this shortly after Fences, and for all the shit Washington got for keeping Wilson's work virtually untouched and not making it terribly cinematic, that was certainly better than what Harrower did here. The whole subplot about the lay-offs at Ray's factory, for one, was baffling in how utterly pointless and meandering it turned out to be. It serves absolutely no purpose in the story and is clearly the result of a writer trying to open up theatrical source material that didn't need to be opened up anyway. Seeing a premise this sharp and a pair of leads this talented (Mara and Mendelsohn are perfectly cast, and predictably excellent) go down the drain thanks to shockingly amateurish writing/directing made this one of the most frustrating watches of 2017.
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Post by cheesecake on Nov 9, 2017 22:48:08 GMT
I thought it was an inexplicable mess, to be frank. It keeps veering away from everything that makes it interesting at the outset because it never allows Una and Ray's confrontation enough time to develop. Whenever it seems like it's going somewhere, we cut away from the two of them to waste time on some totally unnecessary, filler-y parallel subplot that has no business being there at all. I saw this shortly after Fences, and for all the shit Washington got for keeping Wilson's work virtually untouched and not making it terribly cinematic, that was certainly better than what Harrower did here. The whole subplot about the lay-offs at Ray's factory, for one, was baffling in how utterly pointless and meandering it turned out to be. It serves absolutely no purpose in the story and is clearly the result of a writer trying to open up theatrical source material that didn't need to be opened up anyway. Seeing a premise this sharp and a pair of leads this talented (Mara and Mendelsohn are perfectly cast, and predictably excellent) go down the drain thanks to shockingly amateurish writing/directing made this one of the most frustrating watches of 2017. Well said. I thought it was a complete waste of time. |
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Post by alexanderblanchett on Nov 12, 2017 21:51:06 GMT
It was a very powerful showcase of Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn. Played well with the morals. Two good performances that made my Top 10 so far.
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Post by isabelaolive on Aug 19, 2018 3:20:02 GMT
A waste. It could have been one of the best of 2016/7 if they had made better use of the script for the Blackbird and had cast an experienced director. The film was too theatrical. The performances were good, at least
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Aug 19, 2018 3:34:56 GMT
Not gonna bother
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clunkybob2
Junior Member
clunky's posts should be locked in a cell
Posts: 262
Likes: 94
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Post by clunkybob2 on Aug 20, 2018 12:53:22 GMT
I haven't seen it.
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