Going into this Sam Mendes had come off the back of the brilliant 1917. Unfortunately there is none of that magic in this damp squid of a film. This movie apart from Olivia Coleman's performance and the cinematography has nothing much else to recommend it! This film fills like it has a lot to say but no real time to say it which is why the movie's themes are only snapshots but lack real depth and any sort of direction. The film deals with the love of cinema, racism and mental health. Firstly the love of cinema element in this film is so hap-hazard and doesn't really add anything. It lacks the complete emotional depth of say 'Cinema Paradiso'
The racism element is there to show that the black man had to deal with skinheads and then the mental heath element shows Olivia Coleman's character being taken away after an outburst and then in the next scene she is totally recovered.
Also, the scene in Dreamland is completely inaccurate. In Dreamland in the 80's this looked nothing like the modern day dreamland that the movie filmed it's scenes in. In the 80's you had the looping star and the Mary Rose. This scene in the movie is just the Dreamland if you were to visit it now.
Also, I didn't buy into the relationship between the two leads. Sam Mendes is a great director with the likes of American Beauty, Revolutionary Road and 1917 and can also co-write a screenplay but he should never be aloud to write solo again. When you realise that he wrote this during the Covid lockdown, that makes a lot of sense.
Also, the scene in Dreamland is completely inaccurate. In Dreamland in the 80's this looked nothing like the modern day dreamland that the movie filmed it's scenes in. In the 80's you had the looping star and the Mary Rose. This scene in the movie is just the Dreamland if you were to visit it now.
Also, I didn't buy into the relationship between the two leads. Sam Mendes is a great director with the likes of American Beauty, Revolutionary Road and 1917 and can also co-write a screenplay but he should never be aloud to write solo again. When you realise that he wrote this during the Covid lockdown, that makes a lot of sense.