Nick Clement brings us his thoughts on this 2019 movie with The Goldfinch movie review
Theodore Decker was 13 years old when his mother was killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The tragedy changes the course of his life, sending him on a stirring odyssey of grief and guilt, reinvention and redemption, and even love.
Through it all, he holds on to one tangible piece of hope from that terrible day — a painting of a tiny bird chained to its perch.
This film was a curious misfire, made all the more curious due to the high level of pedigree both in-front of and behind the camera.
Directed by John Crowley (Brooklyn, Boy A) and adapted for the screen by Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Men Who Stare at Goats), this narratively confused piece of high-minded adult drama looks absolutely fabulous (Roger Deakins called the DOP shots).
The Goldfinch movie features some persuasive performances (Oakes Fegley, most especially), but because of the meandering nature to the flow of events, and the lack of a strong emotional connection with the lead character at a key portion in the story, there’s nothing to latch onto.
When your story involves the personal and visceral trauma experienced as a result of a terrorist bombing along with the loss of one’s mother, this fact feels all the more exasperated.
I’ve not read the nearly 800 page book that this film was based on, but my guess is that the material would have been better suited to the mini or limited series format.
It was at once both too much, and not enough, which is a bizarre combo.
The Goldfinch movie review by Nick Clement
Our Rating
Summary
A film certainly better suited to a mini or limited series it became too much and not enough at the same time which is a bizzare and disjointed combo.
