Reviews

Wow, what a colossal mess this film is.

I saw this at the Dome in Hollywood on opening weekend with some serious film lovers. Very few claps at the end for such a huge theater. To be honest, they sounded like pity claps because the cast was waiting in the wings to come out.

The movie is 2.5 dreadfully long hours. I saw many people looking around and checking their watches. The pace is way too slow. There are scenes of Tilda Swinton (as the male psychiatrist) just walking and walking outside. There was no need to see any of that. But the director, Guadagnino, did that with many scenes in the film. They just draaaaaag.

On the note of Tilda playing a man. Totally stupid decision. The makeup made it obvious this wasn't a real man playing the part and her voice... well imagine Johnny Cash trying to talk like a woman. You get the idea. It completely took me out of the picture.

Here's the worse part. Her character didn't even need to be in the film at all. It added nothing to the story. At the end, I was like... "That's it? That's the payoff for watching this character throughout the entire 2.5 hours?"

The dancing is good (pretty obvious from the trailer). The music is eerie, which added suspense. However, I remember one scene at a table with no music and it became suddenly distracting to me, because of the drastic shift. That tells me the director relied to heavily on the music to draw suspense.

The supporting female cast (not including Moretz) were all believable and added a fantastic level of creepiness. They were the best thing about the film.

Tilda's main character, the dance choreographer, is performed well enough, though her character is not as creepy or fun as her supporting counterparts get to play. She also gets the short end of the stick at the end. What a letdown. Her character could have been so twisted.

Dakota's performance is pretty much the same throughout the film, even after her character DRASTICALLY changes in the final act. You would think that would call for her taking a step into the sinister side, but she's still playing it as the doe-eyed character gently speaking, only this time she's killing everyone around her. Clearly that's the director's artistic decision. Nope. Didn't work for me.

Pros: Reilly and Phoenix are both powerful in their performances and play characters never before seen on screen (that I know of).

Cons: Reilly and Phoenix's characters, are ultimately despicable, and the fact that they go home to their Mommy at the end is just plain ridiculous. Maybe show a fantasy of that as their meeting their inevitable demise, but don't actually end with that.

Ahmed and Gyllenhal are characters I could care less about. I was glad when they met their demise, because it meant I didn't have to watch any more of them for the rest of the film.

Also, where is the antagonist? I thought it was Reilly and Phoenix at first, but then they switch their positions and it becomes The Commodore? Yet, when we see finally him on screen, he's a corpse? Great character development there, Writer.

Reilly said about the film, you don't see such emotionally open characters in Westerns. Not true at all. There are plenty of richly portrayed, hardened characters that have moments of weakness which reveals the underpinnings of an extremely emotional character. Even Eastwood's William Munny, a hardened murderous man, shows he is capable of an intensely emotional outpouring (albeit in a violent manner).