Yeah, I could just stare at this movie all day (some super jarring horrible CG though, like the bear haha). I'm also gona need to check out the book
I didn't realize that this was a Denis Johnson adaptation. I read Jesus' Son last year and really liked it. Maybe I'll read before I watch.
Reading now as I take a break from Secret History. Johnson was a fantastic writer, it makes me want to reread Jesus’ Son
This was a beautiful film. Having a wife and a daughter at a similar age to Katie really made it emotionally resonant. Really growing to love Egerton as an actor so much.
There’s a crazy storm happening and I have 4(!) redwoods around my house. My mind immediately went to this film and the widow makers.
This was fine. It was very tender, but the narrator just pounds in the themes too heavily. It was reminiscent of the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
Assassination of Jesse James is a top 10-12 movie of all-time for me so your comment intrigues me? Are you speaking more to the storyline or the cinematography (which is next level in AOJJ)?
I agree the narration does too much when the images speak for themselves, but in the end it didn’t impact my enjoyment of the film.
Interesting take… I felt like the narration did at times feel unneeded. I didn’t feel that way with Assassination of Jesse James. Though the tone there is much darker in nature than I felt this was. I really loved this and I’m glad I finally got around to watching it. Overwhelmingly somber and harrowing but it’s a very polished production.
The book is excellent. I am not an audiobook person so I don’t know how it translates, but I savored every page. Parts of this feel like the Wes Andersonification (derogatory here) of a more serious, heavy work
I didn’t love the narration but I also don’t like narration like 80% of the time. The visuals are beautiful. I definitely didn’t get ANY Wes Anderson vibes from this
I paused to get a drink and I think I need to come back in with the knowledge that this is using the skeleton of the book (reordering it in chronological order) as a jumping off point for something a bit softer or more traditional. The book opens with Robert not hesitating to join in with the gang that attempts to kill the Chinese man. The film Robert is a different person. Allowing myself to shake the book a little might help.
Wes Anderson is a poor comparison in terms of tone, but there were shots in the first half hour of this that reminded me of the early AI “what if Wes Anderson made _____” slop