In this latest piece of his he shows his maturity as a director as well as his sense of compassion and truly emotional understanding of humanity.
Crowe keeps it real throughout, although moreso in style than in fact. The film is based on a real-life memoir by Benjamin Mee, portrayed by Matt Damon in the film. The facts are not accurate, as the real story happened in Britain whereas the film was Americanized. However the style is real, and by that I mean it is portraying a realistic situation.
To briefly summarize the plot, Benjamin Mee's wife has just passed away, and he is looking to restart his life. Right from the beginning we are sympathetic with his situation. He looks at houses and decides to buy one that has a zoo with it that he must agree to maintain, a very large change for him and his two children to make.
The film is saturated with varying degrees of emotion in every corner. It ultimately centers on grief and coming to terms with the dead wife/mother. Crowe is not afraid to really dig into the raw feeling of the situation from every character's perspective. Many times we see Benjamin's grief come out, as well as the teenage son dealing with it in his own quiet way, and the very small daughter's naive way of just plainly saying what happened, even to strangers. But there are the good moments too. The zoo comes with a fun, eccentric staff, with the zookeeper being played very convincingly by Scarlett Johansson. This undeniably keeps them all closer together, working together as one big family for a respectable goal: to reopen the zoo to the public after many years of dormancy, and this helps out their situation emotionally by uniting as a family.
At the same time it is never absolutely brutal; he masterfully keeps it somehow light and entertaining throughout. This combined with the way it's all shot and portrayed simply makes for a beautiful watch. The cinematography complements the characters' feelings at all times. There are also some gorgeous shots of nature and the zoo by the end of the film. There is a sense of true power, beauty and just plain life to the entire film that makes you want to sit and relax in it, like a warm bath, and never come out, even during the less comfortable parts. This man knows how to make a film.
Much of the power can be attributed to Jónsi Þór Birgisson (of Sigur Rós fame) for composing the film's soundtrack. I immediately recognized his distinct voice and knew I'd be in for a treat. His music perfectly meshes with the film's themes: the varying stages of grief, the ups and downs, all with an undertone of the beauty and essence of life and nature that the zoo brings.
As a fun bonus the film has a lot of head nods to Crowe's previous works, including a self-reflective scene with the main character looking in the mirror (Vanilla Sky), a long shot of a woman smiling ear to ear (Almost Famous), and the real estate agent was quite reminiscent of Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s character in Jerry Maguire. As a fan of Crowe I was excited to see these minutiae and recognize them as his style.
All in all, this is a truly excellent piece of cinema. The only thing that slightly drags it down is that the pacing of the story was perhaps a touch slow at some points. This is only minor and doesn't harm it very much. After a long 6 years since he has made a film at all, Cameron Crowe once again picks up his cinematic paintbrush and delivers to us another fine work that will be viewed and enjoyed worldwide for years to come.
Crowe keeps it real throughout, although moreso in style than in fact. The film is based on a real-life memoir by Benjamin Mee, portrayed by Matt Damon in the film. The facts are not accurate, as the real story happened in Britain whereas the film was Americanized. However the style is real, and by that I mean it is portraying a realistic situation.
To briefly summarize the plot, Benjamin Mee's wife has just passed away, and he is looking to restart his life. Right from the beginning we are sympathetic with his situation. He looks at houses and decides to buy one that has a zoo with it that he must agree to maintain, a very large change for him and his two children to make.
The film is saturated with varying degrees of emotion in every corner. It ultimately centers on grief and coming to terms with the dead wife/mother. Crowe is not afraid to really dig into the raw feeling of the situation from every character's perspective. Many times we see Benjamin's grief come out, as well as the teenage son dealing with it in his own quiet way, and the very small daughter's naive way of just plainly saying what happened, even to strangers. But there are the good moments too. The zoo comes with a fun, eccentric staff, with the zookeeper being played very convincingly by Scarlett Johansson. This undeniably keeps them all closer together, working together as one big family for a respectable goal: to reopen the zoo to the public after many years of dormancy, and this helps out their situation emotionally by uniting as a family.
At the same time it is never absolutely brutal; he masterfully keeps it somehow light and entertaining throughout. This combined with the way it's all shot and portrayed simply makes for a beautiful watch. The cinematography complements the characters' feelings at all times. There are also some gorgeous shots of nature and the zoo by the end of the film. There is a sense of true power, beauty and just plain life to the entire film that makes you want to sit and relax in it, like a warm bath, and never come out, even during the less comfortable parts. This man knows how to make a film.
Much of the power can be attributed to Jónsi Þór Birgisson (of Sigur Rós fame) for composing the film's soundtrack. I immediately recognized his distinct voice and knew I'd be in for a treat. His music perfectly meshes with the film's themes: the varying stages of grief, the ups and downs, all with an undertone of the beauty and essence of life and nature that the zoo brings.
As a fun bonus the film has a lot of head nods to Crowe's previous works, including a self-reflective scene with the main character looking in the mirror (Vanilla Sky), a long shot of a woman smiling ear to ear (Almost Famous), and the real estate agent was quite reminiscent of Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s character in Jerry Maguire. As a fan of Crowe I was excited to see these minutiae and recognize them as his style.
All in all, this is a truly excellent piece of cinema. The only thing that slightly drags it down is that the pacing of the story was perhaps a touch slow at some points. This is only minor and doesn't harm it very much. After a long 6 years since he has made a film at all, Cameron Crowe once again picks up his cinematic paintbrush and delivers to us another fine work that will be viewed and enjoyed worldwide for years to come.