tiff #5

i know what you're probably thinking. has this girl even seen the reviews that came out for this movie??? they're not so great??? but HEAR ME OUT. i've already made a joke that this film is my john f. donovan of the year for how much i unabashedly enjoyed it despite its reception. one of the nice things about festivals is that you don't have other people telling you ahead of time whether you should like or dislike something.

while it isn't the perfect adaptation of donna tartt's masterpiece, which is still FAR superior, it still contains a lot of the elements that make the story great. i was skeptical about the non-linear narrative approach it took, especially the way it handled the museum scene, but it ended up working for me in the end. the performances really anchored the film, with oakes fegley proving himself to be a star in the making, finn wolfhard and aneurin barnard having wonderful comedic timing, and sarah paulson and nicole kidman were obviously astounding. the vegas section with young theo and boris is my favourite part of the novel, so i was happy that it translated so well on screen and was easily the best part of the film for me, as well. to me, it never lost sight of the story's themes of america in a post-9/11 world and the importance of the immortality of art and objects. and for a movie about art, it is fitting that the biggest star of all is roger deakins' camera—storytelling through images is crucial here, and deakins does it better than anyone. his cinematography alone makes this film worth it.