She may be, but still not cheap or manipulative.Originally Posted by Aurelius
She may be, but still not cheap or manipulative.
This was good.
The tsunami sequence and the scenes that followed were top notch filmmaking. The visual effects, sound, and overall technical design were impeccable. It was really harrowing and I found myself struggling to hold back tears. Just brutal. While Watts' performance was indeed one-note, the role didn't ask for much else from her. Still, it was a good performance, and I won't be very upset with her Oscar nomination. That said, the best in show was Tom Holland, whom will likely find himself on my INOCA ballot. Such a mature, layered performance. I hope he gets more roles. It's really the performances and the first half of the film that are great, IMO.
However a few factors keep this from being a great film, and my qualms lie mainly with the plot and direction. After the tsunami sequence, nothing really happens. Yes, we do see how they recover and cope with possibly losing loved ones, but it all feels so inconsequential. They all find each other. That pretty much sums it up. There are a couple of touching scenes, that due to cliche music cues, very much border on being maudlin. I feel that if Bayona wasn't so preoccupied with sentimentality, this would have been a far better film.
Still, I was expecting something far worse. I was pleased with the film overall.
Elena
I don't understand why people keep saying things like "the family didn't lose anything." Okay, maybe they didn't, but like... they all suffered from PTSD after the tsunami, Maria Belon spent 14 months in hospitals probably unsure if she was ever going to walk again, and during the however many hours they were apart, they were probably emotionally destroyed thinking that they'd never see each other again and the psychological damage probably didn't just... go away after they all reunited. Like, I know they didn't lose a house or a family member but there were other things that made their story harrowing. And in the end, I never viewed it as a tragedy, so coming from that angle in the first place is kind of the wrong way to go.
How many of that did we see on screen though? So most of it is irrelevant evaluating the film.
I will marshall all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide - Peter Capaldi, In The Loop
Yeah, I really don't think 'they didn't lose anything' and 'obviously they'd see each other soon'. We all know the 13th Ammendment was passed and that doesn't discredit Lincoln as a movie. I agree that Bayona made the finale a bit overdramatic, the way they actually meet again, but this really isn't about 'what's gonna happen?', it's about how they felt at the time and even if no one died, they still suffered a lot. I completely understand the criticism of the moviemaking, but I don't get questioning the actual story.
I know I've got a big ego, I really don't know why it's such a big deal, though.
I question the interest in the story. I just don't find it very interesting, because I don't think this story is unique. Look at all the other people in the film looking for loved ones who eventually find them. They lose each other, they find each other. Tears flow. Whatever.
I will marshall all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide - Peter Capaldi, In The Loop
Yeah, but that's you personally.
I know I've got a big ego, I really don't know why it's such a big deal, though.
Them not losing anything is irrelevant to the film too, since the story is how they find each other and not their lives being ruined? And I personally do think we caught glimpses of it. To each his own though. I think sometimes people are a bit too cynical with movies like this.
And I think sometimes people are too susceptible to cheap sentimentality with movies like this. To each his own though.
Oh, I opened my initial post in this film with "I'm too cynical for this shit." So I already got that covered.
I will marshall all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide - Peter Capaldi, In The Loop
Absolutely. I'll be the first one to admit to be manipulated by sentimentality and even more vocal in criticizing it when there's too much of it even for me
I know I've got a big ego, I really don't know why it's such a big deal, though.
lol, that's fine too erik, I do think the film is overly sentimental at times but I don't see why it's a bad thing and I don't really know why you're so hostile about it. I don't see any other way to tell this story, about a boy who thinks his brothers and dad are dead with a mom on the verge of death as well. I truly don't understand how the resolution to that (them being reunited) can be portrayed in any other way.
Maybe the answer is there is no unsentimental way to tell and therefore shouldn't have been told.
I don't want to think about a world without The Impossible
I wish a tsunami had come and swept all prints of it away.I don't want to think about a world without The Impossible
Too soon?
Down with sentimentality! Away with emotion!Maybe the answer is there is no unsentimental way to tell and therefore shouldn't have been told.
I know I've got a big ego, I really don't know why it's such a big deal, though.
LOL, I would certainly never say that and I'm often the first to cry at a movie. This just did the opposite for me.Down with sentimentality! Away with emotion!
Oh you will cry. You will so cry...in February.
The way in which the family find each other is very contrived--what are the odds that the father, the two little kids and the older kid would end up at the same hospital at the same time? Of course, staging the scene in that way gave the film makers the opportunity to use the "running into each other's arms" cliche, complete with swelling strings from the sappy score.
True. I give it slack because apparently it really happened that way, but I do think it could have done without some of the "will they see each other or won't they?" posturing that seemed to go on for like, 10 minutes. That was the only time I found myself actively rolling my eyes.
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