31/38
by Josh Schmidt and Marius De VriesDirected by Josh Schmidt
After decades of solitude, a wealthy family living in a salt mine encounters a stranger. Joshua Oppenheimer has described the film as an exploration of whether we, as humans, can reach a place where our guilt is too much to recover from our past. I don’t think I’ve been this excited about a film in a long time.
Technically, this film has the sauce
Oppenheimer’s first feature was supposed to be a singular, uncompromising vision, but I’ve really seen nothing like it. They clearly have no idea how to market this film because Neon is due for a limited release in December and there’s still no poster or trailer. I digress, but this film really perked me up for much of its runtime.
The weak links are in the story and the music
The really interesting and detailed environment, cinematography and use of lighting are also key and work to contextualize the scenes. While I don’t think the Golden Age musical is necessarily a gimmick, I don’t think it’s fully realized or utilized as they hoped. I’d say I was in a relationship for at least half the songs, but they all sound so similar.
That said, I really enjoyed this movie
Aside from moments where it feels like the visuals are supposed to match what’s happening, it’s just people walking around talking and singing how they feel. It’s also a very loose movie thematically, keeping its eggs in too many baskets, without adequately divulging anything. When it doesn’t scratch the surface of something profound, it can often feel trite.
You can’t put it in a box and there’s nothing like it that I think is worth a watch
It’s not for everyone and the guy next to me was obviously bored, along with my girlfriend who said she’d probably never watch it again but that she liked it well enough. While it’s not trying to satisfy any lingering questions you might have, or larger questions, it’s begging you for something and asking, “are we too far gone or too guilty to recover from our past?”