{"id":20004,"date":"2020-02-13T16:48:11","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T00:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=20004"},"modified":"2020-02-13T16:48:11","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T00:48:11","slug":"downhill-takes-a-similar-but-less-adventurous-slope-than-its-predecessor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=20004","title":{"rendered":"DOWNHILL Takes a Similar but Less Adventurous Slope than its Predecessor"},"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\">The new dark comedy <em>Downhill<\/em> might look oddly\nfamiliar and leave some viewers wondering if they haven\u2019t seen it somewhere before.\nWell, you have if you watch foreign films, as this picture is a remake of the\n2014 Swedish title, <em>Force Majeure<\/em>. The movie impressed critics a few\nyears back with its examination of a marriage in strife following a sudden and\nunexpected occurrence. This version successfully translates a few of those\nelements, but is much blunter in delivering the material to audiences. Those\nunfamiliar with the source may still find it intriguing, but the final product\ndoesn\u2019t quite compare with the unique original. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Downhill-table-looking-at-avalanche-1024x487.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20006\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Billie (Julie Louis-Dreyfuss) and Pete (Will Farrell) decide\nto visit Austria with their kids for a family ski vacation. While enjoying\nlunch at an outdoor restaurant near a mountain, a controlled avalanche is\ndetonated. As the unexpectedly large wave of snow comes careening down, Pete\u2019s\nreaction to the event shocks Billie and ends up causing a rift in their\nrelationship. Of course, things aren\u2019t helped by the husband\u2019s reluctance to address\nand deal with what occurred. This leads to an incredibly awkward and public\nconfrontation with Pete when a co-worker named Zach (Zach Woods) and his\ngirlfriend Rosie (Zo\u00eb Chao) are invited over for drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First off, this reviewer must admit that he saw <em>Force\nMajeure<\/em> and greatly admired it. As such, it\u2019s difficult not to have\nsomething of a personal bias when examining this remake. <em>Downhill<\/em> does translate\noriginal elements successfully in a couple of sequences. The aforementioned\nverbal fight that occurs between the couple isn\u2019t hilarious, but it is\nincredibly tense, well-handled, grimly humorous and appropriately uncomfortable\nto watch. The movie also benefits from an appearance by original film cast\nmember Kristofer Hivju, who plays a member of the security team responsible for\nthe detonation. His disdain for Billie and Pete and their complaints after the\navalanche may provide the film with its funniest scene. And the production\nmakes impressive use of a pair of bathroom sinks that ultimately starts to help\ndisplay the growing divide between husband and wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Downhill-fight-hotel.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20008\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The rest of the movie never quite feels either as amusing or\nunsettling as it needs to be in order to really get under the skin. An Austrian\nwoman (Miranda Otto) working at the hotel attempts to provide some comic relief\nby making blunt observations on the leads after befriending them, but this\naddition seems a little off-kilter paired with the personal drama. Later scenes\ninvolving the fractured Billie and Pete are nicely shot but simplified reenactments\nof the previous feature, with the characters stating their thoughts and ideas\nin a far more straight-forward and direct manner (this may account for the film\nbeing a half-hour shorter than the original). There\u2019s less subtlety present\nhere and some of the intended tension and unspoken inner turmoil between the two\nlead characters is lost in the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Downhill-angry-inside.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20007\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It also veers off course a little towards the close, altering the final events. It\u2019s done in order to allow the characters (specifically Billie) to, once again, explicitly state the filmmaker\u2019s message in a direct manner and wrap things up in a clearer and more concise way. While this lack of ambiguity may be appealing to some audience members, it ultimately leaves less about the movie to discuss afterwards with friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cast do their best and there are good moments that may\nprovide those unfamiliar with the original story something to chew on,\nespecially if they don\u2019t go in expecting a traditional comedy. However, those\nwho already know the material may end up finding that the elements on display\nhere feel like a CliffsNotes version of what they\u2019ve already seen. <em>Downhill <\/em>eventually\ndoes make it to the finish line, but appears to take an easier and less\nadventurous slope to reach its destination. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The new dark comedy Downhill might look oddly familiar and leave some viewers wondering if they haven\u2019t seen it somewhere before. Well, you have if you watch foreign films, as this picture is a remake of the 2014 Swedish title, Force Majeure. The movie impressed critics a few years back with its examination of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,2073,4660,6189,6190,6191,6193,6251,7743,11133,14033,16846,24285,24721],"class_list":["post-20004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-avalanche","tag-comedy","tag-downhill","tag-downhill-film-review","tag-downhill-movie-review","tag-downhill-review","tag-drama","tag-force-majure","tag-julia-louis-dreyfuss","tag-miranda-otto","tag-remake","tag-will-farrell","tag-zach-woods"],"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\/20004","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=20004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}