The Goldfinch (2019) - Stars gleam in affected Crowley adaptation mishap

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+ Career-Killer of the Year: John Crowley 

 

Young co-star Oakes Fegley in a jump in black space outlines this striking poster for John Crowley's The Goldfinch

13 year-old Theo gets taken in by a wealthy New-Yorker family, after his mother dies in a terrorist attack in an art museum. Theo goes on to have an unusual adolescence.

 

The Goldfinch is written by Peter Straughan (Sixty Six (2006)), adapting the same-titled 2013 novel by Donna Tartt (The Secret History (1992)), and directed by Irish master filmmaker John Crowley (Intermission (2003).

An impressive cast, - including but not limited to Nicole Kidman (Happy Feet (2006)) as the adopting mother and Jeffrey Wright (Monster (2018)) as an antique specialist/mentor to Theo, - lures, along with a plush production, into this literary universe. Theo meets us first as an incredibly depressed-looking teenage boy, (played by Oakes Fegley (Boardwalk Empire (2014, TV-series))), who is into classical literature and art (...), but Fegley later proves livelier and capable enough in scenes in Nevada. Here he has good scenes with Finn Wolfhard (It (2017)) and Luke Wilson (Henry Poole Is Here (2008)) and Sarah Paulson (Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)), the latter two good as his bad father and his unappealing girlfriend. Ansel Elgort (Allegiant (2016)) does alright as the adult Theo, when the story takes a turn and becomes odder: Kidman speaks mysteriously to her now adult Theo, who was in her care for a very short period of time, and she talks to him as if they enjoyed many years together. 

Aneurin Barnard (Thirteen (2016, miniseries)) is a looker, but the story, which now circles around a stolen painting of the titular goldfinch, and their mission to steal it back, never becomes successful for the third act of the long film. The Goldfinch nevertheless still has plenty of drama and interesting performances to keep my attention perched over it.

Related posts:

John Crowley: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

Brooklyn (2015) - Ronan captivates in Crowley's exquisite, soaring period romance drama masterpiece 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 44-49 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 9.9 mil. $

= Box office disaster (returned between 0.22 - 0.20 times its cost)

[The Goldfinch premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 149 minutes. Wolfhard was paid 65k $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place in New York, New Mexico and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from January - April 2018. A test screening 6 months prior to the release gave theatrical distributor Warner Bros. fears the film might bomb, and its marketing budget was consequently cut "dramatically." It opened #8 to a 2.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 5.3 mil. $ (53.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 1.1 mil. $ (11.1 %) and the UK with 0.9 mil. $ (9.1 %). Crowley is returning with TV-series Life after Life and does not have an announced feature in the pipeline yet. Fegley returned in The War with Grandpa (2020); Elgort in Tokyo Vice (2021, TV-series) and theatrically in West Side Story (2021). The Goldfinch is rotten at 25 % with a 4.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Goldfinch?

The Debt (2010) - The Nazi war criminal thriller is back in a welcome return

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The slick but not very informative poster for John Madden's The Debt

QUICK REVIEW:

In 1965 the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad sent three agents to East-Berlin to assassinate an infamous Nazi war criminal, the Surgeon of Nuremberg, who was then a practicing gynecologist.

The Debt lifts the rich inheritance from Nazi war criminal thrillers like The Marathon Man (1976) and The Boys from Brazil (1978) without the elements of diamonds, clones or wild car chases from those films, but instead with a sober and intense story, SPOILER which ends as an uncompromising defense for truth in all contexts.
The film could have benefited from an opening text about East-Berlin and that Mossad had just localized the Surgeon there, and there are also some difficulties in seeing all the well-known actors as Jews, - but, more importantly, they all do well. Particularly Helen Mirren (The Last Station (2009)), who simply becomes her character here, but also Jessica Chastain (The Martian (2015)) and Jesper Christensen (Spectre (2015)), who is icy as the Nazi war criminal, mixing psychopathic diabolism with rationality and sympathetic qualities.
The Debt is a remake of the Israeli The Debt/Ha-Hov (2007), written by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass (2010)), Jane Goldman (Stardust (2007)) and Peter Straughan (The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)), and directed by great English filmmaker John Madden (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)). It is an attractive, good film.

Related review:

John Madden: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) - Elderly Brits me in India in Madden's delightful film

Watch a short trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 45.6 mil. $
= Flop
[The film premiered at the Deauville American Film Festival in France September 4 and runs 113 minutes. The Debt was finished and ready for release in July 2010, but due to the sale of distributor Miramax, the North American release was delayed until August 31 2011. The film opened #2 to 9.9 mil. $ in North America, where it grossed 31.1 mil. $ (68.2 % of the total gross.) The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 4.6 mil. $ (10.1 %) and the UK with 2.3 mil. $ (5 %). The Debt is certified fresh at 76 % with a 6.5 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Debt?

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) - Alfredson's heavily plotted, dreary spy hunt

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Gary Oldman straightens his glasses as the lead spy on the poster for Tomas Alfredson's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

QUICK REVIEW:

Once in the Cold War, Mr. Smiley is frozen out of the intelligence Circus in London, only to be recruited again to find and root out the Soviet mole that plagues the very same institution.

Good performances by Gary Oldman (Lawless (2012)), Mark Strong (John Carter (2012)) and David Dencik (The Homesman (2014)) improve but do not save this unnecessarily knobbly told intelligence thriller, the second adaptation, following the same-titled 1979 BBC mini-series, of John Le Carré's (The Russia House (1989)) 1974 novel. Adapted by Bridget O'Connor (Mrs. Ratcliffe's Revolution (2007)), who sadly passed away during production, and her husband Peter Straughan (Frank (2014)).
Aesthetically this version, by Swedish director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In/Låt den Rätte Komma In (2008)) in his English-language debut, gorges on the period's ugliest, most color-deprived misery, just like the BBC series did. Only this new Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has a little more blood and higher pace than the dragging show had. I was also frustrated that there is no clear indices of the year that the plot takes place in.
Ultimately, I think Alfredson's film is another rather dull cinematic round based on Carré material; this one is excessively esoteric as well as severely unattractive due to its asceticism.

Watch the great trailer for the film here, which makes it look exceedingly exciting

Cost: 21 mil. $
Box office: 80.6 mil. $
= Big hit
[Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was tremendously successful in its native UK, (though it is, in fact, a UK-German-French co-production), where it made 14 mil. £ and stayed #1 for three consecutive weeks. It also made a handsome 24.1 mil. $ (30 % of the total gross) in North America. The film was also nominated for three Oscars, for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Score (Alberto Iglesias (The Constant Gardner (2005))) and Best Actor (Oldman), winning none.]

What do you think of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy?