{"id":19395,"date":"2019-10-31T14:58:40","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T21:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=19395"},"modified":"2019-10-31T14:58:40","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T21:58:40","slug":"motherless-brooklyn-tries-too-hard-for-awards-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=19395","title":{"rendered":"MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN Tries Too Hard for Awards Glory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/24_0006_C+-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7079\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In case you haven\u2019t already noticed, we\u2019re beginning to\nventure into awards season. This part of the year is always filled with\nambitious pictures featuring high drama that seem earmarked for Oscar glory\u2026 as\nwell as some that aspire for the honors, but don\u2019t quite make as strong an\nimpression (at least for this writer). <em>Motherless Brooklyn<\/em> is one such\nexample. Everyone involved seems to be giving it their all with big\nperformances filled with grand speeches and bold dramatic gestures. Yet while\nit\u2019s watchable in the moment, the end result feels manufactured and one that\nnever matches the films that inspired it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Motherless-Brooklyn-willis-norton-1024x558.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19396\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Set in New York during the 1950s, this tale follows Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton) aka Brooklyn, a sharp-witted adult battling Tourette Syndrome, which causes uncontrollable spells that involve shouting as well as repetitive gestures. Lionel refers to it as having, \u201c\u2026threads in his head,\u201d that he can\u2019t stop and for the sudden and sometimes unnerving behavior. Despite his troubles, his ability to remember details have gained him favor at a private investigation firm run by Frank Minna (Bruce Willis).\u00a0 When a case goes wrong and Minna is taken out of the proceedings, the protagonist feels obligated to find out what really happened to his friend. The trail uncovers a possible conspiracy involving Brooklyn Bridge Authority official Moses Randolph (Alec Baldwin), as well as the figure&#8217;s estranged brother Paul (Willem Dafoe) and lawyer Laura Rose (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who has an unknown connection to the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Motherless-Brooklyn-bar-norton-lighting-smoke-1024x583.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19397\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much of the film details the struggles Lionel faces in\ntaking on the lead in an investigation. While his memory is impeccable, he\ncan\u2019t interview strangers without twitches blurting out unexpected curses and\nnaughty words. And when I write that this is a big focus, it truly is. Not one\nscene goes by without a shriek or inappropriate term uttered. It is certainly a\nbold performance by Norton to play a social outcast with no friends and a\nfacial tic, but the circumstances the character is put in ultimately make it difficult\nto completely buy into the concept. Suspension of disbelief gets even harder to\nsalvage after the arrival of Laura, a lawyer who immediately finds Lionel sweet\nand charming despite the outbursts, which up until this point had left him on\nthe social fringes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Motherless-Brooklyn-norton-baldwin-1024x606.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19398\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It also doesn\u2019t help that the central investigation involving a government cover-up proceeds so slowly. It\u2019s clear from the outset that Moses is involved in some nefarious activities. While Baldwin is a very capable actor, he\u2019s forced into scowling and threatening those around him for most of the proceedings. Things do liven up with the arrival of brother Paul, an eccentric who may or may not be in league with his sibling. As the details are finally revealed and the seedy underbelly of the Brooklyn Bridge Authority is revealed, events do perk up a bit. There\u2019s even an exciting confrontation between the lead and an enormous pursuer on a fire escape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While it\u2019s watchable overall, things never quite heat up to a boil dramatically and ultimately it never generates much excitement. Part of the problem is that it feels like a group of characters really working hard to chew scenery with all their exaggerated and eccentric behaviors, ultimately taking this viewer out of the proceedings. Those with a film history knowledge will also very quickly realize that the picture and\/or its source material, intentionally or not, owes a big debt to the 1974 neo-noir classic, <em>Chinatown<\/em>. And this flick just isn\u2019t in the same league. <em>Motherless Brooklyn<\/em> tries too hard for awards glory, and while it may make for a reasonable night\u2019s entertainment at home, it isn\u2019t worth the time and investment of pounding the pavement and discovering in the cinema.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In case you haven\u2019t already noticed, we\u2019re beginning to venture into awards season. This part of the year is always filled with ambitious pictures featuring high drama that seem earmarked for Oscar glory\u2026 as well as some that aspire for the honors, but don\u2019t quite make as strong an impression (at least for this writer). [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,938,3592,3615,4910,6251,6743,8713,14284,14285,14286,14287,14523,15922,19420,22825,24299],"class_list":["post-19395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-alec-baldwin","tag-brooklyn","tag-bruce-willis","tag-crime","tag-drama","tag-edward-norton","tag-gugu-mhatha-raw","tag-motherless-brooklyn","tag-motherless-brooklyn-film-review","tag-motherless-brooklyn-movie-review","tag-motherless-brooklyn-review","tag-mystery","tag-period","tag-suspense","tag-thriller","tag-willem-dafoe"],"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\/19395","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=19395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19395\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}