Post by Capo on Feb 26, 2010 22:42:52 GMT
Well. Where to begin? When I saw the trailer I thought, 'naff'. Ten minutes into the film I thought, 'most distinctly cinematic storytelling I've seen in a while'. A half-hour later: 'uh-oh...' By the end (bear in mind it's a film about a 14 year-old girl's murder): 'is this actually happening? was this actually made? what the hell was going through any of these people's heads?' *chuckle* *cringe* *uproarious laughter*
Again: where to begin...?
Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) tells us in voice-over at the beginning of the film that she was murdered on December 6th, 1973. Early on in the film she tells us who her murderer is: George Harvey (Stanley Tucci), an elderly man living in the neighbourhood.
The film deals with two things: the first is Susie's 'life' after death, in the liminal space between Earth and Heaven; the second is how her parents, Jack and Abigail (Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Wiesz), deal with her murder and the lack of closure surrounding it. The seeming relationship between these two narrative strands is this: in order for everybody to 'move on' with their lives, the murderer must be caught, or get his comeuppance; justice must be sought. When this happens, the Salmon family can be a family once more, and Susie can get to Heaven...
The film boasts quite a meaty cast: Wahlberg and Wiesz seem good choices; Susan Sarandon cameos as an alcoholic grandmother; Michael Imperioli is the lead detective investigating Susie's disappearance; Saoirse Ronan, previously seen in Atonement, is cast as Susie; Stanley Tucci is her killer.
None of the performers have a chance to show their talent. In the case of Weisz, Sarandon and Imperioli, they are more or less shunned into minor, supporting roles thanks to a very messy script; Wahlberg, Tucci and Ronan fall victim to what can only be described as heavy-handed self-indulgence from the director.
Of Peter Jackson's previous films I've seen Bad Taste, Heavenly Creatures, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong; none of them are particularly subtle. He has a distinct visual style and likes to smack it on thick to tell his story. Fair enough; it works with a fantasy epic such as Rings and seems apt for a CGI-heavy Kong remake.
Its beyond-the-grave-narrator notwithstanding, though, Jackson's latest film could largely be grounded in a material reality. An adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel, the film is set in a particular historical and social framework: Pennsylvania, 1973. As Susie sets the scene for us, "These were the days before missing children appeared on milk cartons." Already there is a potential here, to examine the devastation of losing a child, the grieving process, changes in social responses to pedophilia, etc.
That Jackson, his regular co-writers (Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens) and his editor spend at least half of the film with Susie's attempt to leave limbo and get to Heaven, then, is telling. The real lives she has left behind on Earth are cast aside; all potential interest in them is not followed up. Much of the film feels like visual experimentation on Jackson's part - he has absolutely no interest in the serious issues of the drama he's adapting.
Other viewers may object, arguing that the film is as much about Jack Salmon's quest, as a father, to bring his daughter's killer to justice as it is about anything else. The problem, though, is that not enough time is given to this, or any of the other relationships in the film, to be of any interest or plausibility. The narrative is absolutely devoid of character development.
As a murder mystery (even a dramatically ironic one), the film never gets going because at almost every point in the narrative where momentum threatens, Jackson cuts between the living and the dead, between Jack Salmon and Susie Salmon, suggesting a sort of spiritual bond between the two. He does so with the usual tricks: extreme slow-motion, cross-cutting, a moment of facial revelation, etc., etc. It's very heavy-handed.
When Jack first suspects George Harvey and goes to confront him, for instance, all potential tension is lost to curious visual symbolism. Later in the film, when Susie's sister breaks into Harvey's home in search of evidence, Jackson for once allows events to unfold without any otherworldly interruption. But at the one time in the film where we might feel any emotional response, the film-making becomes criminally formulaic. Even at this Jackson seems inefficient; at least with Susie's world there is some visual interest, however crude her created world is.
Though it is no fault of the actors, the heavy-handedness and overall sloppiness of the narrative makes the performances farcical. Wahlberg in particular spends the final third like the protagonist of a silent slapstick comedy. Everything is overplayed.
This seems to be a direct result of Jackson and co. having no emotional investment, no real depth, in any of the characters. Jack Salmon is a father to a murdered daughter and little else; Abigail Salmon is the father's wife and no more; most crucially, though, considering the emphasis given to him, George Harvey is a calculating lonely child killer and nothing else. Nobody in the film is a real, dramatic character; they're all thoroughly one-dimensional. Interestingly, one wonders why Imperioli's detective was even in the film; in Sebold's novel, he and Abigail have a brief affair - no such thing is alluded to here. Sarandon is grossly underused.
The dialogue is no less flat. Here are some examples that hopefully speak for themselves: Susie in voice-over: "There was one thing my murderer didn't understand; he didn't understand how much a father could love his child." An exchange between Susie and her after-life friend, Holly: "It's beautiful." "Of course it is, it's Heaven!" Susie in voice-over: "Murder changes everything."
What are we supposed to make of these fantastical grandeurs and meaningless truisms?
At the end of the film, Harvey is found out but isn't caught; he flees before he can be got. His comeuppance occurs due to a very unlikely accident; it is unsatisfying precisely because of the religious notion of 'karma' attached to it. Narratively, it's perfunctory; technically, it's like a cartoon.
The "lovely bones" of the title, Susie Salmon reveals, are the relationships and moments that developed and occurred in the aftermath of her death; the tone is celebratory, though it feels misplaced, unwarranted even. Susie tells us some of these are "tenuous"; as presented in the film, they are nothing but tenuous.
Again: where to begin...?
Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) tells us in voice-over at the beginning of the film that she was murdered on December 6th, 1973. Early on in the film she tells us who her murderer is: George Harvey (Stanley Tucci), an elderly man living in the neighbourhood.
The film deals with two things: the first is Susie's 'life' after death, in the liminal space between Earth and Heaven; the second is how her parents, Jack and Abigail (Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Wiesz), deal with her murder and the lack of closure surrounding it. The seeming relationship between these two narrative strands is this: in order for everybody to 'move on' with their lives, the murderer must be caught, or get his comeuppance; justice must be sought. When this happens, the Salmon family can be a family once more, and Susie can get to Heaven...
The film boasts quite a meaty cast: Wahlberg and Wiesz seem good choices; Susan Sarandon cameos as an alcoholic grandmother; Michael Imperioli is the lead detective investigating Susie's disappearance; Saoirse Ronan, previously seen in Atonement, is cast as Susie; Stanley Tucci is her killer.
None of the performers have a chance to show their talent. In the case of Weisz, Sarandon and Imperioli, they are more or less shunned into minor, supporting roles thanks to a very messy script; Wahlberg, Tucci and Ronan fall victim to what can only be described as heavy-handed self-indulgence from the director.
Of Peter Jackson's previous films I've seen Bad Taste, Heavenly Creatures, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong; none of them are particularly subtle. He has a distinct visual style and likes to smack it on thick to tell his story. Fair enough; it works with a fantasy epic such as Rings and seems apt for a CGI-heavy Kong remake.
Its beyond-the-grave-narrator notwithstanding, though, Jackson's latest film could largely be grounded in a material reality. An adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel, the film is set in a particular historical and social framework: Pennsylvania, 1973. As Susie sets the scene for us, "These were the days before missing children appeared on milk cartons." Already there is a potential here, to examine the devastation of losing a child, the grieving process, changes in social responses to pedophilia, etc.
That Jackson, his regular co-writers (Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens) and his editor spend at least half of the film with Susie's attempt to leave limbo and get to Heaven, then, is telling. The real lives she has left behind on Earth are cast aside; all potential interest in them is not followed up. Much of the film feels like visual experimentation on Jackson's part - he has absolutely no interest in the serious issues of the drama he's adapting.
Other viewers may object, arguing that the film is as much about Jack Salmon's quest, as a father, to bring his daughter's killer to justice as it is about anything else. The problem, though, is that not enough time is given to this, or any of the other relationships in the film, to be of any interest or plausibility. The narrative is absolutely devoid of character development.
As a murder mystery (even a dramatically ironic one), the film never gets going because at almost every point in the narrative where momentum threatens, Jackson cuts between the living and the dead, between Jack Salmon and Susie Salmon, suggesting a sort of spiritual bond between the two. He does so with the usual tricks: extreme slow-motion, cross-cutting, a moment of facial revelation, etc., etc. It's very heavy-handed.
When Jack first suspects George Harvey and goes to confront him, for instance, all potential tension is lost to curious visual symbolism. Later in the film, when Susie's sister breaks into Harvey's home in search of evidence, Jackson for once allows events to unfold without any otherworldly interruption. But at the one time in the film where we might feel any emotional response, the film-making becomes criminally formulaic. Even at this Jackson seems inefficient; at least with Susie's world there is some visual interest, however crude her created world is.
Though it is no fault of the actors, the heavy-handedness and overall sloppiness of the narrative makes the performances farcical. Wahlberg in particular spends the final third like the protagonist of a silent slapstick comedy. Everything is overplayed.
This seems to be a direct result of Jackson and co. having no emotional investment, no real depth, in any of the characters. Jack Salmon is a father to a murdered daughter and little else; Abigail Salmon is the father's wife and no more; most crucially, though, considering the emphasis given to him, George Harvey is a calculating lonely child killer and nothing else. Nobody in the film is a real, dramatic character; they're all thoroughly one-dimensional. Interestingly, one wonders why Imperioli's detective was even in the film; in Sebold's novel, he and Abigail have a brief affair - no such thing is alluded to here. Sarandon is grossly underused.
The dialogue is no less flat. Here are some examples that hopefully speak for themselves: Susie in voice-over: "There was one thing my murderer didn't understand; he didn't understand how much a father could love his child." An exchange between Susie and her after-life friend, Holly: "It's beautiful." "Of course it is, it's Heaven!" Susie in voice-over: "Murder changes everything."
What are we supposed to make of these fantastical grandeurs and meaningless truisms?
At the end of the film, Harvey is found out but isn't caught; he flees before he can be got. His comeuppance occurs due to a very unlikely accident; it is unsatisfying precisely because of the religious notion of 'karma' attached to it. Narratively, it's perfunctory; technically, it's like a cartoon.
The "lovely bones" of the title, Susie Salmon reveals, are the relationships and moments that developed and occurred in the aftermath of her death; the tone is celebratory, though it feels misplaced, unwarranted even. Susie tells us some of these are "tenuous"; as presented in the film, they are nothing but tenuous.