I read through some reviews and it's either '10/10 you just wouldn't get it on the first viewing kids it's material for day's worth of talking' or 'what have I watched it's so slow and dull it's not a thriller where is the blood'. I never ever reviewed a movie before, even though I had some of my most shattering cinematic experiences lately, and wouldn't if it wasn't for this film. It's obvious that a good movie of any kind will spark controversy, especially some unconventional disturbing movie which is not giving you solid moral guidance throughout, but in case with this film it's not particularly what interested me. It's just that, to my belief, none of the sides got it right, and the praise even feels kind of paid (overthinking probably) because every praiseful review points out its conversation-generating capacity, which I don't recall having encountered earlier in any other film review, even that of films with much greater strength and controversy, and this same capacity is neatly taken as the main promotion point by the marketing team.
So, in the first place we got to sort some things out. Cinema is primarily audio-visual art and only then it's just pure art and a mean to deliver some thoughts to the audience, and again, the delivery occurs by the means of visuals, so to set the mood and direction right and to accurately translate your ideas to cinema language and successfully transfer them to the audience and make it accessible to it you have to get everything correct in the visual department. Visuals of this movie weren't even closely satisfying for me. The cinematography is flat and completely ordinary, without any hint of artistic vision, which is being interfered from time to time by some good unique shots, but those just don't add up and loosen the visuals even more. Colors are overtinted and unappealing, yet this doesn't feel like a calculated artistic decision and doesn't set any vibe, it just feels like it's a TV-film shot on a cheap digital camera. Editing and pacing is simply bad, floating in the range of by-the-book, uninventive technics, yet failing to execute even them sometimes with silly, amateurish fades, and pacing is tattered and inconsistent.
As for the script, it is okay, it has some strength, but director fails to transit it on the screen with same potency and meaning. Acting is really captivating, I was fairly surprised with the fact that Owen Willson managed to play this role so subtly yet so hauntingly yet with some dark comedy, and even more surprised that no other strong roles followed for him subsequently, if even followed at all. Brian Cox is the reason I decided to watch this movie in the first place, and he acted flawlessly. Female cast is also great, but I just don't get why everybody is praising them exclusively and so relentlessly. Plot is just overly inconsistent and leaves a lot of blank spaces, which in the understanding of general public in the review section is believed to be attribute of an art movie, a deep, complex screenwriting. I do love the vast possibility of interpretation and ambiguous plot points, but in this movie there are some unexplained parts that are crucial for understanding of the characters and events, and no key and options are given as for how to interpret those parts. This could be enjoyable and rewarding as well, but then there should be given some other aspects in which film succeeds and rewards the viewer, but as the visuals are bland and plot is dull and inconsistent, and philosophical depths that are hinted in some of the dialogue and monologue of Vann are unexplorable without at least some reliable and clear signs in the movie, we are left only with its character study capacity, which is great but generally there are a lot of greater movies in this field.
So in conclusion, all those ideas and turns might have been great and whole in script or in the book, but with this screening lacking the visual code and visual guidance, consistent and thoughtful script or at least some more obvious and clear hints as for what to perceive we are left with lots of ambiguous and enigmatic metaphorical scenes and characters that can only be guessed, but not successfully explained, and the trip to it ain't too rewarding as well.
TLDR: you could make it a stylish, beautiful, well-executed surreal tale which is already rewarding with its visuals and experience and which provides you with side thought and reflexion, or a well-thought-out philosophical movie which would leave you thinking and talking about it for days to come, as it is stated it the promo materials, but director didn't chose either approach, so what we got is just a mediocre, unfinished movie.
So, in the first place we got to sort some things out. Cinema is primarily audio-visual art and only then it's just pure art and a mean to deliver some thoughts to the audience, and again, the delivery occurs by the means of visuals, so to set the mood and direction right and to accurately translate your ideas to cinema language and successfully transfer them to the audience and make it accessible to it you have to get everything correct in the visual department. Visuals of this movie weren't even closely satisfying for me. The cinematography is flat and completely ordinary, without any hint of artistic vision, which is being interfered from time to time by some good unique shots, but those just don't add up and loosen the visuals even more. Colors are overtinted and unappealing, yet this doesn't feel like a calculated artistic decision and doesn't set any vibe, it just feels like it's a TV-film shot on a cheap digital camera. Editing and pacing is simply bad, floating in the range of by-the-book, uninventive technics, yet failing to execute even them sometimes with silly, amateurish fades, and pacing is tattered and inconsistent.
As for the script, it is okay, it has some strength, but director fails to transit it on the screen with same potency and meaning. Acting is really captivating, I was fairly surprised with the fact that Owen Willson managed to play this role so subtly yet so hauntingly yet with some dark comedy, and even more surprised that no other strong roles followed for him subsequently, if even followed at all. Brian Cox is the reason I decided to watch this movie in the first place, and he acted flawlessly. Female cast is also great, but I just don't get why everybody is praising them exclusively and so relentlessly. Plot is just overly inconsistent and leaves a lot of blank spaces, which in the understanding of general public in the review section is believed to be attribute of an art movie, a deep, complex screenwriting. I do love the vast possibility of interpretation and ambiguous plot points, but in this movie there are some unexplained parts that are crucial for understanding of the characters and events, and no key and options are given as for how to interpret those parts. This could be enjoyable and rewarding as well, but then there should be given some other aspects in which film succeeds and rewards the viewer, but as the visuals are bland and plot is dull and inconsistent, and philosophical depths that are hinted in some of the dialogue and monologue of Vann are unexplorable without at least some reliable and clear signs in the movie, we are left only with its character study capacity, which is great but generally there are a lot of greater movies in this field.
So in conclusion, all those ideas and turns might have been great and whole in script or in the book, but with this screening lacking the visual code and visual guidance, consistent and thoughtful script or at least some more obvious and clear hints as for what to perceive we are left with lots of ambiguous and enigmatic metaphorical scenes and characters that can only be guessed, but not successfully explained, and the trip to it ain't too rewarding as well.
TLDR: you could make it a stylish, beautiful, well-executed surreal tale which is already rewarding with its visuals and experience and which provides you with side thought and reflexion, or a well-thought-out philosophical movie which would leave you thinking and talking about it for days to come, as it is stated it the promo materials, but director didn't chose either approach, so what we got is just a mediocre, unfinished movie.
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