acid reflects

I haven’t read the book, but the gorgeous yet unwieldy adaptation of #TheGoldfinch has managed to make me less interested in reading the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. That’s not how it should go.

Thirteen-year old Theo Decker (Oakes Fegley) is taken in by the wealthy New York family of Mrs. Barbour (Nicole Kidman) after Theo’s mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the debris he finds the prized Dutch painting The Goldfinch, which he then keeps in secret, probably as a memorial to his beloved mother.

In New York, Theo meets Hobie (Jeffrey Wright,) an antiques dealer whose business partner was among the people in the museum when it was bombed. Theo meets young Pippa (Aimée Lawrence) who also survived the bombing, albeit with a bad head injury.

Not long after, Theo’s (supposedly) sobered-up father Larry (Luke Wilson) appears to pick him up to move to literally the deserted parts of Las Vegas. He befriends young Boris (played by Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things,) troubled son of a Ukrainian immigrant. Larry and Boris, for almost the same reasons, expose Theo to the world of drugs and alcohol.

(SLIGHTLY SPOILERISH) The scamming Larry dies from a car crash, presumably in an attempt to escape. Theo leaves for New York, to Hobie’s shop.

From there, Theo grows up (Ansel Egort) as Hobie’s antiques salesman, still keeping The Goldfinch hidden, still pining for Pippa, until Boris (Aneurin Barnard) reappears and the two descend into a world of crime and drugs.

That’s a long summary to include all the important characters because it’s just right to commend what the actors have done in this sprawling coming of age film. They all do a good job bringing forth longing, despair, pain, restraint – things swept under the rug to hide behind (the illusion of) strength. You can also say this is Fegley’s movie more than Egort’s, since the bigger emotional journey happens during Theo’s youth. Kidman is lowkey intense here, it’s almost no acting.

The film is gorgeously photographed by the legendary Roger Deakins – almost enough reason to see the film.

Its biggest hurdle was to cover so many plot points as economically as it can to arrive at the dramatic climax. At two and a half hours, the drama seemed that it needed at least an hour more to make its emotions connect. Nothing stays emotionally, beats feel truncated – very much like Larry coming and going just to truncate Theo’s world with the Barbours.

It’s also underscored – simultaneously welcoming and depressive – the film is one long sad tone, even during light moments. In the end, one can’t feel the triumph of Theo’s spirit, just the relief to see the credits rolling. I really wanted to like this film, I just can’t.

Trailer here: https://youtu.be/I8-0QsJ4GG8
Rated PG
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Based on the novel by Donna Tartt
Directed by John Crowley