All Roads not taken
2020
15
Director: Sally Potter
Starring: Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Salma Hayek, Laura Linney etc
Overall rating 71/100
The roads not taken follows a mentally ill father called Leo (Javier Bardem) and his daughter Molly (Elle Fanning) as he floats through different lives he has lived. The roads not taken was a well done and well acted movie with a message but not good enough to be watched again or watched at the cinema, so let's talk about this more in detail.
First of all I liked the unique plot points, performances and chemistry between the actors/characters. I liked the concept of the main character living through multiple different stages of his life, I have rarely seen this in film, and it was done cleverly here for development of the main character and kept the plot interesting. The performances here were also fantastic. Elle Fanning was fantastic, delivering a charming, passionate, and heart-breaking performance, she really portrayed this kind of character very well, Havier Bardem was also, as expected fantastic. He portrayed his role so authentically and with such raw emotion, he did a fantastic job at portraying what mental illness can do to a person in a sensitive and impactful way. The chemistry between Elle Fanning and Javier Bardem was also great, there relationship was beautiful to watch, as the love that Molly had for her father despite him slipping further and further away from her was heart-breaking and handled very well.
My next couple of positives would be the emotional weight and deep themes. The movie was very emotional in parts, due to it handling mental health in such a professional and sensitive way, the emotional elements felt well earnt and were very well done as you saw the slow deterioration of Leo's health. The movie also handled deep themes based on mental health very well, the theme of peoples prejudices and treatment of people with mental illnesses was handled very well and raised a big issue that still happens in todays society, which hopefully will change some peoples mind when watching.
My few negatives for the movie would be the pacing issues, unclear plot points and the lack of depth to the other characters within the movie. The movie was very slow in a lot places, and despite the themes and performances was sometimes slightly bland and I did lose interest in parts, I also found it strange that that the movies plot points of Leo living three different lives was always confusing as to whether he actually lived them or was imagining these different lives he could live. I would of also liked if they had also had more depth to the other characters within the movie besides Leo. All the other characters even his daughter were very one dimensional and didn't have much to their characters beyond surface level which was a shame and effected the movie slightly for me.
My final few positives would be how the plot developed and progressed, the set pieces and the satisfying ending. I loved how the story progressed through Leo's different past lives and how that further developed and expanded on the plot, also the progression and growth with him and his daughter was also great. The set pieces were also very good, the movie was shot in some beautiful and captivating locations that fit the different tonal aspects of Leo's life so this was great. And finally the ending was very satisfying, the character arc between Leo and Molly was ended in a great way that solidified the relationship that was developed throughout and left me somewhat feeling good about the movie when walking out.
Overall The roads not taken is a brilliantly acted, emotional film that handles it's mental health subject matter sensitively and professionally, but is never good enough to be recommendable and falls short with it's use of the cast and confusing plot points.
Overall rating 71/100
The roads not taken follows a mentally ill father called Leo (Javier Bardem) and his daughter Molly (Elle Fanning) as he floats through different lives he has lived. The roads not taken was a well done and well acted movie with a message but not good enough to be watched again or watched at the cinema, so let's talk about this more in detail.
First of all I liked the unique plot points, performances and chemistry between the actors/characters. I liked the concept of the main character living through multiple different stages of his life, I have rarely seen this in film, and it was done cleverly here for development of the main character and kept the plot interesting. The performances here were also fantastic. Elle Fanning was fantastic, delivering a charming, passionate, and heart-breaking performance, she really portrayed this kind of character very well, Havier Bardem was also, as expected fantastic. He portrayed his role so authentically and with such raw emotion, he did a fantastic job at portraying what mental illness can do to a person in a sensitive and impactful way. The chemistry between Elle Fanning and Javier Bardem was also great, there relationship was beautiful to watch, as the love that Molly had for her father despite him slipping further and further away from her was heart-breaking and handled very well.
My next couple of positives would be the emotional weight and deep themes. The movie was very emotional in parts, due to it handling mental health in such a professional and sensitive way, the emotional elements felt well earnt and were very well done as you saw the slow deterioration of Leo's health. The movie also handled deep themes based on mental health very well, the theme of peoples prejudices and treatment of people with mental illnesses was handled very well and raised a big issue that still happens in todays society, which hopefully will change some peoples mind when watching.
My few negatives for the movie would be the pacing issues, unclear plot points and the lack of depth to the other characters within the movie. The movie was very slow in a lot places, and despite the themes and performances was sometimes slightly bland and I did lose interest in parts, I also found it strange that that the movies plot points of Leo living three different lives was always confusing as to whether he actually lived them or was imagining these different lives he could live. I would of also liked if they had also had more depth to the other characters within the movie besides Leo. All the other characters even his daughter were very one dimensional and didn't have much to their characters beyond surface level which was a shame and effected the movie slightly for me.
My final few positives would be how the plot developed and progressed, the set pieces and the satisfying ending. I loved how the story progressed through Leo's different past lives and how that further developed and expanded on the plot, also the progression and growth with him and his daughter was also great. The set pieces were also very good, the movie was shot in some beautiful and captivating locations that fit the different tonal aspects of Leo's life so this was great. And finally the ending was very satisfying, the character arc between Leo and Molly was ended in a great way that solidified the relationship that was developed throughout and left me somewhat feeling good about the movie when walking out.
Overall The roads not taken is a brilliantly acted, emotional film that handles it's mental health subject matter sensitively and professionally, but is never good enough to be recommendable and falls short with it's use of the cast and confusing plot points.