A nicely ambitious film about an interesting era of Hollywood that was never visible in their films of that time.
Its a film from a cinema lover to cinema lovers and while we had similar projects like this during the year (The Fabelmans, The Offer) this one is the most different wildest and in many ways bravest.
There are unfortunately issues with it. I wasnt fond of the direction by Damien Chazelle, as his direction was all over the place. The film never really knew what it wanted to be: Comedy? Drama? Thriller? Romance?
There were many segments that could have easily reduced the very long running time of 3 hours and increased the quality of the film. Generally editing was another issue. There are so many meaningless moments in the film when the camera films steady on a face or item without reason.
But there are many goods as well. First of all the film had probably my favorite final scene of any movie this year. Very well done and surprising in a way too. The acting was very solid. Margot Robbie was great, I think I would have loved Emma Stone, the original choice, even better, but Robbie added something very raw to it what Stone probably wouldn't have been capable to do. In a weaker year for female performance she could have easily stabbed an Oscar nomination for this. Brad Pitt was absolutely outstanding and gives one of his best and most nuanced performances. He is very underrated for this turn as there are many ways this character could have been played and Pitt chose the right one. Great performance, funny and tragic. Jean Smart was very good too, I especially loved her monologue. Was not the biggest fan of Tobey Maguire as he overacted his role too much. And last but certainly not least Diego Calva is a fantastic discovery and I am looking forward to see more of him. He really carried a huge junk of the film on his own shoulders.
The music was great, the cinematography fantastic, the production design absolutely top notch. So yeah, if Damien Chazelle would have put more focus on it, (for example like The Offer, which was a brilliant example of a film( well miniseries) about filmmaking) , he would have made a masterpiece. Now its still a solid film worth to see. Expect the unexpected.
Its a film from a cinema lover to cinema lovers and while we had similar projects like this during the year (The Fabelmans, The Offer) this one is the most different wildest and in many ways bravest.
There are unfortunately issues with it. I wasnt fond of the direction by Damien Chazelle, as his direction was all over the place. The film never really knew what it wanted to be: Comedy? Drama? Thriller? Romance?
There were many segments that could have easily reduced the very long running time of 3 hours and increased the quality of the film. Generally editing was another issue. There are so many meaningless moments in the film when the camera films steady on a face or item without reason.
But there are many goods as well. First of all the film had probably my favorite final scene of any movie this year. Very well done and surprising in a way too. The acting was very solid. Margot Robbie was great, I think I would have loved Emma Stone, the original choice, even better, but Robbie added something very raw to it what Stone probably wouldn't have been capable to do. In a weaker year for female performance she could have easily stabbed an Oscar nomination for this. Brad Pitt was absolutely outstanding and gives one of his best and most nuanced performances. He is very underrated for this turn as there are many ways this character could have been played and Pitt chose the right one. Great performance, funny and tragic. Jean Smart was very good too, I especially loved her monologue. Was not the biggest fan of Tobey Maguire as he overacted his role too much. And last but certainly not least Diego Calva is a fantastic discovery and I am looking forward to see more of him. He really carried a huge junk of the film on his own shoulders.
The music was great, the cinematography fantastic, the production design absolutely top notch. So yeah, if Damien Chazelle would have put more focus on it, (for example like The Offer, which was a brilliant example of a film( well miniseries) about filmmaking) , he would have made a masterpiece. Now its still a solid film worth to see. Expect the unexpected.