This review contains some spoilers. It contains some details that will make the film less of a mystery than if you had stopped reading here. If you are going to see this movie, I suggest you do not read this or any other reviews, and go and see the movie for yourself.
Spoilers.
The first problem was that I walked into this film with high expectations. With Kevin Kline, John C. Reilly, and a classically cliché, but always amusing plot line (as per the previews) of an out-dated aristocrat teaching his trade? How could it go wrong?
Well, the plot that I expected was completely lost in the film's actual theme, which was repressed sexual deviations in people who actually desire to live normal, morally upstanding lives. It followed the tune of Russian literature thematically, taking a psychological aspect of a person and exploring it to the point at which the characters become the trait that they are created to express, resulting in the creation of purely ridiculous scenarios.
And that sort of thing can be done well.
But Paul Dano's character was apparently intended to act out the part of a cross-dressing dead fish, which he did admirably. His acting was horribly overblown, but it actually served to make his character a little like a stuck-up version of Michael Sera.
And after two hours of watching this on screen, I was glad to leave the theatre.
Katie Holmes...I don't even know what she was doing up there. She acted a girl who had a relatively normal, caring, but sometimes insensitive boyfriend. And that didn't take much acting. I still don't understand why her presence in the film was even warranted, as her character...was superfluous. Hers amounted to little more than filler time.
I suppose the only way in which this film surpassed my expectations lies in the fact that it surprised me in some way. It wasn't the cheesy 'coming of age'/'student+teacher' movie that I expected. But I'd have been happier if I'd been right, because a simpler plot might have allowed the actors to figure out what the hell they were supposed to be conveying to the audience at any given point in the film.
As it was, Kevin Kline still managed to bring some humor to the table, making what would otherwise have been a dreary piece of work somewhat less so. John C. Reilly did as well, for about five minutes. It's a shame that's all the time he was given.
Granted, it's a better film than most mainstream behemoths. But it wasn't nearly as entertaining as the majority of those, and it ultimately left me asking not, 'Where are we?' as suggested by the film, but rather, "Why am I here?"
Spoilers.
The first problem was that I walked into this film with high expectations. With Kevin Kline, John C. Reilly, and a classically cliché, but always amusing plot line (as per the previews) of an out-dated aristocrat teaching his trade? How could it go wrong?
Well, the plot that I expected was completely lost in the film's actual theme, which was repressed sexual deviations in people who actually desire to live normal, morally upstanding lives. It followed the tune of Russian literature thematically, taking a psychological aspect of a person and exploring it to the point at which the characters become the trait that they are created to express, resulting in the creation of purely ridiculous scenarios.
And that sort of thing can be done well.
But Paul Dano's character was apparently intended to act out the part of a cross-dressing dead fish, which he did admirably. His acting was horribly overblown, but it actually served to make his character a little like a stuck-up version of Michael Sera.
And after two hours of watching this on screen, I was glad to leave the theatre.
Katie Holmes...I don't even know what she was doing up there. She acted a girl who had a relatively normal, caring, but sometimes insensitive boyfriend. And that didn't take much acting. I still don't understand why her presence in the film was even warranted, as her character...was superfluous. Hers amounted to little more than filler time.
I suppose the only way in which this film surpassed my expectations lies in the fact that it surprised me in some way. It wasn't the cheesy 'coming of age'/'student+teacher' movie that I expected. But I'd have been happier if I'd been right, because a simpler plot might have allowed the actors to figure out what the hell they were supposed to be conveying to the audience at any given point in the film.
As it was, Kevin Kline still managed to bring some humor to the table, making what would otherwise have been a dreary piece of work somewhat less so. John C. Reilly did as well, for about five minutes. It's a shame that's all the time he was given.
Granted, it's a better film than most mainstream behemoths. But it wasn't nearly as entertaining as the majority of those, and it ultimately left me asking not, 'Where are we?' as suggested by the film, but rather, "Why am I here?"