One of the great subversions of the detective movie. It’s full of moments where characters are certain they’ve ‘worked out’ the great conspiracy at the heart of the thing. The twisted passion that really drives the killings is so far from their minds as even a possibility.
I can still remember the way my mind was ticking over watching this the first time as a kid. To me, it wasn’t necessarily clear that ‘mother’ was the killer responsible, but Norman…
Watching the Director’s Cut might be the reason this came off as a little bloated this time around, but that almost has less to do with the actual runtime and more to do with certain vibes in the picture.
There’s plenty of delicious qualities to the film, and what a cast! I thought Casablanca had a good ensemble, this is the kind of film that always seems to have another gem of a performance under its sleeve.
The music too…
It feels so harsh to speak ill of something that is so well intentioned and which will no doubt bring so much joy to people, but I found this thing to be totally mediocre.
I still haven’t read the novel, and my only prior experience of this story comes from Gillian Armstrong’s film version, which I know a lot of fans of the book (my mother included) have issues with.
I find Armstrong’s film on its own terms to be magnificent,…
Every child who dreams of growing up to work in the movies gets dumped with the moniker of the ‘next Spielberg’. It only makes sense that the man who is so synonymous with film production should one day give us his bildungsfilm.
Much has already been said of how the trailer misrepresents this as a sappy ‘magic of the movies’ exercise. Of course, this is infinitely more interrogative of the dark power of moving images, the way they can inspire…
