This is so far up my alley I should be charging it rent.
There’s a moment in this where everything clicked. It was when Travolta was describing his meeting. We cut back and to, between the present and the past, dialogue overlaps, scenes overlap, dialogue gets repeated by each player. It’s funny and quietly clever.
This whole film is quietly clever. It’s unassuming in its greatness. The understated direction never flashbangs you, but you begin to notice subtle choices here and there that just make so much sense. The script is funny and awfully shrewd- even the format points, like the narration, take on a The-Weather-Man-esque humour. The performances are constantly surprising, Robert Duvall and John Travolta are magnificent. The latter does some of the most subtle work I’ve seen him do, the former doles out so many fucking layers. It’s also photographed beautifully. Everything’s clean as a whistle, cold but never heartless and rewarding in ways I think many people are missing.
I said this was up my alley. It is. This kind of adult-alternative, slick, grown-up drama can be utter dross but, they can also be really good. What Lies Beneath is the example that comes to mind. I just love properly mature films that are filmed gorgeously but not flashily.
The story is nothing to write home about and it loses its way a lot in the final act, but I have a feeling this’ll be one of those films that I come back to a lot.
This is so far up my alley I should be charging it rent.
There’s a moment in this where everything clicked. It was when Travolta was describing his meeting. We cut back and to, between the present and the past, dialogue overlaps, scenes overlap, dialogue gets repeated by each player. It’s funny and quietly clever.
This whole film is quietly clever. It’s unassuming in its greatness. The understated direction never flashbangs you, but you begin to notice subtle choices here and there that just make so much sense. The script is funny and awfully shrewd- even the format points, like the narration, take on a The-Weather-Man-esque humour. The performances are constantly surprising, Robert Duvall and John Travolta are magnificent. The latter does some of the most subtle work I’ve seen him do, the former doles out so many fucking layers. It’s also photographed beautifully. Everything’s clean as a whistle, cold but never heartless and rewarding in ways I think many people are missing.
I said this was up my alley. It is. This kind of adult-alternative, slick, grown-up drama can be utter dross but, they can also be really good. What Lies Beneath is the example that comes to mind. I just love properly mature films that are filmed gorgeously but not flashily.
The story is nothing to write home about and it loses its way a lot in the final act, but I have a feeling this’ll be one of those films that I come back to a lot.
