There is probably little to be said about this than has already been said. Eureka is definitely a very beautiful film. The performances of the cast, camera, director, and sound designer are all genuinely flawless. Absolutely nothing is amiss in these elements of this elegiac work of cinema, including the fulsome, meaningful beauty of its story.
However, one major issue remains, and one much less major. The minor one is the incidental music - plinking, plonking atonality that crops up rarely in the film, but that is completely synthesised and not interesting, original or helpful. What a shame that one so simple aspect was so poorly produced.
The major issue, of course, is the length. At three-and-a-half hours, this is a massive stretch even for the most engaged viewer. The film undoubtedly was at its best about an hour-and-a-half in, when the main character is getting to know the two strange, orphaned children, with whom he shares a traumatic past experience. There are moments of depth, colour and real warmth to this section of the film, which were largely lost later on.
In the end, while this film is beautifully rendered from end to end, and largely dramatically satisfying, at some point the director and editor between them just lost a sense of the movement of the whole piece, and got obsessed with fully fleshing out every aspect of every reflection of every character. This is still a niggle more than a catastrophic issue, but it does reduce the impact of the dramatic conclusions.
I'm not sure, honestly, where this film fits, but if you are looking for a very long, immersive experience of visual beauty and a rich, steady, poetic form of film, it's undeniably excellent.
However, one major issue remains, and one much less major. The minor one is the incidental music - plinking, plonking atonality that crops up rarely in the film, but that is completely synthesised and not interesting, original or helpful. What a shame that one so simple aspect was so poorly produced.
The major issue, of course, is the length. At three-and-a-half hours, this is a massive stretch even for the most engaged viewer. The film undoubtedly was at its best about an hour-and-a-half in, when the main character is getting to know the two strange, orphaned children, with whom he shares a traumatic past experience. There are moments of depth, colour and real warmth to this section of the film, which were largely lost later on.
In the end, while this film is beautifully rendered from end to end, and largely dramatically satisfying, at some point the director and editor between them just lost a sense of the movement of the whole piece, and got obsessed with fully fleshing out every aspect of every reflection of every character. This is still a niggle more than a catastrophic issue, but it does reduce the impact of the dramatic conclusions.
I'm not sure, honestly, where this film fits, but if you are looking for a very long, immersive experience of visual beauty and a rich, steady, poetic form of film, it's undeniably excellent.