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Reviews
Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
Ignorance (and money) is bliss
I'm gonna be honest, 'Florence Foster Jenkins' is not an unforgettable movie, but more kind of a tender and funny experience made unforgettable by Meryl's once again striking performance. She's the best in town, it's almost lame how perfect and convincing and unique she can be in every single project, and Hugh Grant and Simon Helberg are simply exquisite with their 'little' white lies. Because, yes, this is was this movie is about. Florence is a passionate rich woman who really can't sing, but she simply loves music so much she was even capable of fighting syphilis for over 50 years, with a caring - yet selfish and lying - husband always by her side. And that's probably one of the most controversial aspects of the picture. Florence and St Clair shared a totally platonic relationship for 35 years, and as the movie goes on we're faced with the fact that her husband is cheating on her, lying to her and probably even using her assets and power in the industry to fulfill his never-accomplished acting career. Nevertheless, the infinite tenderness between them felt totally real and genuine and, probably mostly because of the endless flaws of their marriage, extremely real. Florence is a lovely woman, and that's probably why Cosmè McMoon, her young pianist, with his amused (and amusing) grimaces and giggles kind of embodies the viewer himself: we are Cosmè. We do realize how bad Florence's singing skills are; we are confused, we totally don't get how people could barely contain their laughs in the theater every time she sang, but as long as we see the effort she puts in everything she desperately tries to learn, we can't resist and we fall in love with her. We become her dearest friend, her left hand when she can't play the piano with both (there's a beautiful scene in Cosmè's loft when they play piano together, and she can't use her left hand because of her illness and they start playing along in one of the most beautiful shots of the movie).
Huge shout out to the entire art department: costumes, make-up and set design are the buttonhole of the picture. Direction and cinematography are classic and clean, colors are simply delightful and embrace the dreamy mood of the picture. 'Florence Foster Jenkins' is, again, not an unforgettable movie, but surely a nice story acted and displayed brilliantly.
Hell or High Water (2016)
quite brilliant, but not that refreshing
One thing that got on my mind through the whole movie was: i've seen this before. All of this. I don't think I'm the only one who gets Coen brothers vibes from this movie, or generally speaking, from a certain genre which is thriller/western drama with an old ranger who's not very enthusiast about his impending retirement and a couple of spoiled thieves, one smart the other one crazy. Nevertheless, characters - especially in the second half of the movie - begin to look more and more tridimensional, and more than once Taylor Sheridan's screenplay surprised me, not only for a smart and quite subtle way of showing the main themes of the movie, such as Texas' citizens economical issues and the even more interesting father's responsibilities and his duties, but especially because it didn't lack of a huge amount of suspense and unpredictability - and honestly I was quite worried about that. Pine gives a surprisingly real performance, while Ben Foster is simply exquisite and charming in his craziness, and the relationship between the two brothers is as genuine as the two lawmen's, Marcus - an amusing Jeff Bridges - and Alberto. The final showdown between the good and the bad (what's the difference anyway? but most of all, there's one?) is thrilling and totally not what I was expecting. Interesting characters, deep performances, not much refreshing in my opinion but very enjoyable anyway.
Lion (2016)
An incredibly emotional, yet unbalanced, journey
I'll start by saying that I'm an incredibly emotional person myself, which means I'm capable of feeling great empathy for most of the characters on screen, but this time I could clearly hear the whole crowd in the projection room crying their hearts out, or at least feeling sad for that little, genuine and brilliant kid played by Sunny Pawar, whose first performance on screen was pure gold.
The first half of the movie would deserve a solid 9, with a rhythmical and powerful editing, mostly long shots (which will most likely make you want to visit India right away) and the tough, indifferent and unscrupulous reality Saroo finds himself fighting against. A strong journey of survival and nostalgia, filled with moments of pure disgust and decay as well as moments of relief and hope.
The second half, tho, is barely comparable to the first one. The script gets slightly weaker, even tho Dev Patel - whose accomplished maturity is unbelievable - is incredibly real and fragile in a wonderful performance, as long as the classy and subtle Nicole Kidman. Rooney Mara is a short, but very pleasant, add to a great cast. Saroo's search for his biological family is way slower and way less powerful than the tough struggle for survival in the first part. But in the complex, Garth Davis' debut on the big screen is more than successful, and the suggestive cinematography, with a wonderful soundtrack and a genuinely good story, make this movie more than recommended.
7/10 is a democratic average between first and second half of the movie.