Parkland

Fascinating. We need more movies centered around a moment in history. People will always be interested in seeing how stuff went down behind the scenes. Even if it might not be 100% accurate.

Fascinating. We need more movies centered around a moment in history. People will always be interested in seeing how stuff went down behind the scenes. Even if it might not be 100% accurate.

While Parkland may have a seemingly interesting plot, the film is unfortunately poorly directed, poorly shot, and poorly written. One of my biggest issues was the  film’s implementation of the actual footage of the JFK assassination into the movie’s scenes. Whether this was a stylistic choice or a decision that was made due to laziness or budget constraints, I have no idea. I do know, however, that by using actual footage from the assignation, it made the casting decisions regarding JFK, Jackie Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson seem mistaken. At first I assumed that the director would decide to make JFK, Jackie Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson “faceless characters” due to the way that they purposefully obscured the character’s faces throughout multiple shots in the film, however, I was mistaken in this assumption upon seeing them decide to add strange shots that almost lingered on the character’s faces for no reason. The strangest thing about all of this is that they kept jumping from obscuring the character’s faces, to showing the character’s faces. It was almost as if they couldn’t decide if the characters should be “faceless” or not! I did find that there were a few other shots throughout the movie that I feel were filmed poorly, but these were the most notable.

While Parkland may have a seemingly interesting plot, the film is unfortunately poorly directed, poorly shot, and poorly written. One of my biggest issues was the  film’s implementation of the actual footage of the JFK assassination into the movie’s scenes. Whether this was a stylistic choice or a decision that was made due to laziness or budget constraints, I have no idea. I do know, however, that by using actual footage from the assignation, it made the casting decisions regarding JFK, Jackie Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson seem mistaken. At first I assumed that the director would decide to make JFK, Jackie Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson “faceless characters” due to the way that they purposefully obscured the character’s faces throughout multiple shots in the film, however, I was mistaken in this assumption upon seeing them decide to add strange shots that almost lingered on the character’s faces for no reason. The strangest thing about all of this is that they kept jumping from obscuring the character’s faces, to showing the character’s faces. It was almost as if they couldn’t decide if the characters should be “faceless” or not! I did find that there were a few other shots throughout the movie that I feel were filmed poorly, but these were the most notable.

Parkland hospital had a K/D of 0-2.

Parkland hospital had a K/D of 0-2.

The funny thing about Parkland is that there really isn’t a main character. And it's not for a good reason, like in some movies. It’s because it’s all over the place, making it hard to know where to focus. I get that there’s supposed to be many subplots to show how much chaos this incident caused, and they wanted to show it through different perspectives, but they could have kept it organized at least.

Anyway, I kept my focus on Paul Giamatti, like always, and he did good. I thought his reaction to the assassination was raw and felt real, but it wasn’t him, or really any of the other actors who were bad. It’s just the messiness. Really. Not a movie that had to be made. Or maybe I’m just Canadian, but wasn’t there already a critically acclaimed JFK movie? I don’t know, but I just don’t think this movie was all that strong.

The funny thing about Parkland is that there really isn’t a main character. And it's not for a good reason, like in some movies. It’s because it’s all over the place, making it hard to know where to focus. I get that there’s supposed to be many subplots to show how much chaos this incident caused, and they wanted to show it through different perspectives, but they could have kept it organized at least.

Anyway, I kept my focus on Paul Giamatti, like always, and he did good. I thought his reaction to the assassination was raw and felt real, but it wasn’t him, or really any of the other actors who were bad. It’s just the messiness. Really. Not a movie that had to be made. Or maybe I’m just Canadian, but wasn’t there already a critically acclaimed JFK movie? I don’t know, but I just don’t think this movie was all that strong.

Paul Giamatti

Paul Giamatti