The Goldfinch (2019)

[baumer]

Tell us your thoughts

[Napoleon]

I loved this. I guess my experience was influenced by my love for the book because, yes, I can look at it and point the flaws, there are elements of the story that are underdeveloped, and it may be hard for people to get invested in this story and not get bored. But for my viewing experience those weren't flaws; in fact it felt perfectly paced while still being completely faithful to the book. I guess I'd say it's a definitive recommend, but only for those who like me already come in caring for these characters. And that's very limiting, because the book is already not for everyone.

 

10/10

[Kravetz]

It was a tough story to tell, and they kept going back to the painting as if it represented the heart of the film. I found that emphasis to be the source of why it didn't work for me. I get it, and didn't have to have it spelled out for me. Focus on the characters and show don't tell. Still great acting, great story. Won't win any awards. 

 

[Joel M]

This was really bad. It's beautifully shot all the actors do their best but almost nothing works about it. 

 

Haven't read the novel so I don't know what's been cut, but the way they have structured this just kills whatever the movie is building towards over and over again. It might have worked better if told chronologically or with more purposefull cross cutting between timelines but as it is, it's a slog to watch.

 

The worst thing about it though, is that it feels like the characters endlessly recite lines from the book without context, literary platitudes that reveal no character, no theme, nothing. This is more apparent with Jeffrey Wright's character who has more scenes than anyone outside of the leads in both timelines and by the end you know nothing about him, he's a blank slate that somehow got 40 minutes of screentime.

 

As a whole it comes off to me as a colossal waste of talent for everyone involved, including John Crowley, who I don't think is as bad a director as he comes off here. I googled a bit about the novel after I saw the movie and I learned it's a big blockbuster hit that also won prestigious awards. It's divisive in that people that love it treat it as a masterpiece and people that don't treat it as pretentious bullshit. It's weird because watching the movie the first thing that popped into my mind was Catcher in the Rye, which is still divisive as a novel in almost the same way and also Hollywood has been trying and failing to make it into a movie for decades. I don't think it would ever work as a movie. Maybe Goldfinch is the same way.