MovieChat Forums > The Goldfinch (2019) Discussion > Throwing in my two cents *spoilers*

Throwing in my two cents spoilers

posted 5 years ago by MichaelPacino (179)
3 replies | jump to latest

Well I can say this... it's way better than "IT: Chapter 2". But then again, that's not a hard feat.

I went into this film knowing absolutely nothing about it. I didn't even know a book existed. I went in completely blind, and... ugh!!!!!

Okay, okay, before i get into why i personally didn't care for this movie, I will talk about the stuff I did like, which thankfully this movie does have.

Pros:
The acting- Every child actor in this movie does a very good job! I actually believed that everything these kids were going through was very realistic. The adult actors themselves are also really strong choices who sell what they have to. Good job everyone!

The Cinematography- Okay, it's far from Roger Deakins, but for what it has, The cinematography has some stunning shots, and has some decent camera movements. The movie doesn't try to go for realism by having shaky cam to give a documentary style feel, but rather moves, and flows nicely throughout.

Cons:
The Color Palette- *lies my head down* Grey, and blue... that's all that it is, grey, and blue for almost 30-45 minutes of this 2 hour 30 minute movie. Let me explain something; As bad as "Batman V Superman" got, the movie has a very similar color palette to this one, but 'BVS' had a director who studied cinematography, as well as another great cinematographer who collaborated to make the movie pretty to look at. It's a bad movie, but it's still very pretty to look at. This movie here does not have that... The color palette is so draining, and at first i thought it was an artistic decision to show how the color was gone from this kid's life, but NOPE! It stays like this throughout almost the entire movie, and it genuinely sucks, and adds to how boring this movie gets. The only time i think the color palette actually worked was when the story took place in the California desert, which was so nice looking, and let the cinematography get a moment to shine. However, the movie falls victim to the boring grey, and blue.

The screenplay- OOF... This screenplay is extremely boring. The movie doesn't really move well at all, and it's evident in a very boring script. The dialogue is very stale, and doesn't really go anywhere.

Editing- What is with editing all of a sudden?!?!?!? 'Bohemian Rhapsody', 'The Jungle Book', and this!! Okay, to be fair, this movie isn't mind numbingly fast editing, but rather the way the movie is edited. It tries to do. what i'm calling, "A slow Momento" where we jump back and forth throughout the main character's life. This movie could have probably benefited from doing it more throughout the movie, rather than sticking with one side for 20-30 minutes at a time. Part of me thinks if someone could re-edit the movie like this, there's a chance the movie could possibly be better, but for now, the editing is just slow, and monotonous.

The Score- This is probably one of the most boring scores i've ever heard for awhile. Even in bad movies, their are some brilliant scores! They can't save the movie, sure, but they can give you a little joy. I feel like the score is just a lazy Hans Zimmer, with no real risks or experiments to really live it up.

So this is about the most boring movie i've seen this year... okay AD ASTRA, please don't suck!

[–] Bolchevik (369) 4 years ago

It's interesting to see a comment about color but honestly, I didn't have a problem with the color in this movie. I thought it was representative of the whole atmosphere they wanted to show. I think the color didn't change because the life of Theo didn't change : he was still sad and unhappy.

I'm not sure to understand your comment about the Editing. You think they should have done it more often ? If so pretty sure the Spectator would be lost. It's not artsy movie, they Don't do that kind of stuff usually, or not much. Besides, I'm not sure why it would help to do it more often. Quite the contrary, I was happy to see it wasn't just a straight up story.

Concerning the score, well i admit I Don't recall much about it but i Don't think it's a movie about score. It doesn't fit the subject too much either.

Well personally I did enjoy the movie. But yeah, it's a slow movie but it is what it is. It looks more like an independant despite Nicole Kidman. I found it intriguing and still many surprises (he stole the painting, his friend stole it from him, her soon to become wife is with him just for the sake for her mother). the only thing I didn't like too much was the fast forward cowboy ending out of nowhere.

[–] [email protected] (1288) 4 years ago

What about him meeting every childhood friend on the streets of NY? I mean come on now. He sees the Russian friend in a bar, the other childhoods friends brother in the street... Too convenient for me.

[–] Bolchevik (369) 4 years ago

Well meeting Nicole Kidman's kid in the street seemed acceptable since he was living in New York already so I thought it was highly plausible they can bump in each other. Same for other people already living in New York (but I Don't remember other friends he mets to be honest).

As for the Russian friend, I would agree with you but I thought it was too much of a coicidence. Remember that the whole scene was a bit odd. His pusher sent him there to get his fix and weirdly, no one seem to know about it. Why his pusher would have done that ? And the fact his Russian friend was connected with the drug underworld was too much of a coicidence for me. My theory is that the Russian friend knew about Theo being in New York and used his connections to force that meeting and pretend it was a coincidence. I didn't think that at first because why would the Russian friend do that instead of just going say hello to his old friend Theo in New York ? But later we learn that the Russian friend stole the picture from Michael and felt guilty despite Theo not knowing about it. Suddenly it makes sense that the Russian friend arranged Something so he can see Theo like it was a coincidence because he couldn't face him the normal way.