{"id":19059,"date":"2019-09-12T14:50:49","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T21:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=19059"},"modified":"2019-09-12T14:50:49","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T21:50:49","slug":"the-goldfinch-is-intriguing-but-doesnt-truly-sing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=19059","title":{"rendered":"THE GOLDFINCH is Intriguing but Doesn\u2019t Truly Sing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It must be especially daunting to try and adapt a\nPulitzer Prize winning novel to the big screen. As a result, The Goldfinch<\/em>\nalready has the deck well stacked against it. The film is well shot and\nfeatures a couple of good performances and a few interesting moments.\nUnfortunately, it is also a little bit stiff, awkwardly plotted and by the\nclose doesn\u2019t make the emotional impact it needs to really wow viewers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story follows Theodore (Oakes Fegley), a young boy\nvisiting the Metropolitan Museum at the worst possible time. A bomb is\ndetonated in the building, killing his mother and leaving him an orphan. He\u2019s\ninitially cared for by the family of a school chum and its matriarch Mrs.\nBarbour (Nicole Kidman), as well as Hobie (Jeffrey Wright), the business partner\nof a man killed in the explosion and a girl who happened to be standing nearby\nduring the blast. Soon, the boy\u2019s ne\u2019er-do-well father (Luke Wilson), returns\nto collect Theo back for undetermined purposes. Theo\u2019s rough childhood is\nintercut with an adult Theodore (Ansel Egort) a reserved and closed-off\nindividual still affected by the tragic event and a specific work of art that\nwas lost in the blast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frankly, the first half-hour is remarkably creaky,\nwith the characters directed to behave in an extremely distant manner. It makes\nsense in some respects as the child is dealing with trauma and the upper-class\nfamily are somewhat severe, but these early sections come across as overly stiff\n(and no doubt will lose many viewers from the start).  Things do improve as Hobie enters the picture,\ndetailing his work in antiques and furniture, also giving some heartfelt talks\nabout the longevity, importance and connectiveness of art. The movie also\nloosens up and feels more authentic when Theodore befriends a Ukrainian boy\nnamed Boris (Finn Wolfhard) who has personal issues of his own to contend with.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are some intriguing bits as viewers slowly\nunravel Theodore\u2019s obsession with a significant museum keepsake from the\nbombing, along with his continuing internal struggle to deal with the event\nitself. And again, a few sweet and effective interactions (particularly involving\nthe younger version of the lead). Still, it only works part of the time. Just\nas many subplots feel forced, stagey and tonally amiss. The movie also struggles\nto maintain tension with its overly extended running time. And the score itself\nis overbaked during a couple of big dramatic beats, seeming especially\ngrandiose given the generally low-key characters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This review may come across as a bit harsh. While not\neverything here works, the movie is unique and unusual enough to keep one\u2019s\nattention. It\u2019s also a good-looking film with some eerie photography,\nparticularly Theo\u2019s walk through the ash and soot-covered museum immediately following\nthe tragic event. Unfortunately, the film just doesn\u2019t manage to create much of\nan emotional impact. One can feel it striving to stir viewers, but the\nrevelations don\u2019t have the desired gravitas. In fact, as the credits roll it\ncan\u2019t help but feel underwhelming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, one can likely assume that given the\nacclaim for the source material, this adaptation isn\u2019t in the same league as\nthe book (which this reviewer has not had the opportunity to read). In the end,\nThe Goldfinch<\/em> is an adequately realized drama, but one that never really\nmanages to find the right tone or truly sing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It must be especially daunting to try and adapt a Pulitzer Prize winning novel to the big screen. As a result, The Goldfinch already has the deck well stacked against it. The film is well shot and features a couple of good performances and a few interesting moments. Unfortunately, it is also a little bit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,741,1559,3294,6251,7584,14834,15176,16474,19746,20828,20829,20830,20831],"class_list":["post-19059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-adaptation","tag-ansel-egort","tag-book","tag-drama","tag-finn-wolfhand","tag-nicole-kidman","tag-oakes-fegley","tag-pulitzer","tag-terrence-howard","tag-the-goldfinch","tag-the-goldfinch-film-review","tag-the-goldfinch-movie-review","tag-the-goldfinch-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}