#54
Post
by John Cope » Thu Aug 09, 2018 1:31 am
Liked this a lot; found it very moving and far better than its miserable rep. I guess it's kind of an infamous film by this point, one perceived as a total failure. This is deeply unfortunate as overall it's daring and generally quite successful, albeit not perfect. There is stuff here that doesn't work but it doesn't tank the film for me at all. Some of the scenes, especially early on, between McConaughey and Watts are underwritten and tepid stock melodrama that need to be better than they are, richer and more developed. And the Big Surprise that happens to the Watts' character sits poorly with me, seems ill conceived, though I think I understand what they were going for and trying to do. The ending, meanwhile, that everyone seems to hate and find so ultra-risible worked exceptionally well for me and was handled with the grace and finesse which accompanies so much of the rest of the picture. Also, that particular reveal is well established with details throughout so it doesn't just come out of nowhere as some kind of trite spiritual kitsch. Actually, it's tied in to what makes the film so special and, I suspect, problematic for a lot of critics.
It's a film that takes its melodrama very seriously, which is unique enough these days, but the film is also heavily symbolic. That's how the melodrama is expressed and symbolism as extensive as this is virtually anathema with or without the melodrama which is equally anathema to many. So, just to make a film with this sort of orientation was a challenge and a daring provocation. As I said, it's not entirely a success but it's a hell of an admirable effort. There's a very strong, affecting scene midway through between McConaughey and Watanabe that illustrates much of what I'm talking about here in capsule form (though the scene is actually a rather astonishing and impressive ten minutes long). It plays like a grown up version of the campfire scene in My Own Private Idaho, with all the inexpressible longings replaced by well articulated but painfully expressed regrets.