I am starting to think that I never want to see a movie about a writer and their struggles of writing again. It's clear to me that these almost always have a distinct and horrible sense of self-indulgence that, for me, I just can’t move past. We get it - you had writers block until something catastrophic happened, suddenly then you could write again. So original.
The film follows, unsurprisingly, a writer in the remote wilds who is suffering writer's block. That is, until he has a car accident, involving running over a small child. His life spirals from there and he attempts suicide. From there, all of his relationships shift and he finds the impetus to write his next work. This happens over a 12 year period.
Deprecated: strpos(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($haystack) of type string is deprecated in /home3/makethes/domains/maketheswitch.com.au/public_html/articleamp.php on line 1179
Deprecated: strpos(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($haystack) of type string is deprecated in /home3/makethes/domains/maketheswitch.com.au/public_html/articleamp.php on line 1179
Deprecated: strpos(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($haystack) of type string is deprecated in /home3/makethes/domains/maketheswitch.com.au/public_html/articleamp.php on line 1179
Forgive my vague description of the plot. It was a very hard movie to keep your attention on. So slow was the pace that it felt as slow as the snow that was constantly falling through out the film. The only counterbalance to this was that every shot was perfectly constructed and seemed like a portrait.
One thing this film has going for it is the star power that this film has behind it. James Franco, Rachel McAdams and Charlotte Gainsbourg lead the cast, but even they aren’t enough to get this film over the edge. They might be good in their own respects, but there is something that doesn’t get this film past the slow wash that it is. Without being able to move past it’s glacial pace; 12 years indeed.
The stars just don’t do enough to make it a movie we actually want to care about.
I think the biggest drawcard is obviously the stars, but they just don’t do enough to make it a movie we actually want to care about. Apathy isn’t great when you want to make a movie about how one single moment can affect the rest of your life, but you probably won't feel affected by this movie at all. Full disclosure: I might have nodded off once or twice. Hopefully you don’t share my experience.