{"id":25467,"date":"2022-10-06T01:23:53","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T08:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=25467"},"modified":"2022-10-06T01:23:53","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T08:23:53","slug":"amsterdam-makes-for-a-fascinatingly-strange-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=25467","title":{"rendered":"AMSTERDAM Makes for a Fascinatingly Strange Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 134 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from 20th<\/sup> Century Studios opens in\ntheaters on October 7th<\/sup>, 2022.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Filmmaker David O. Russell (I Heart Huckabees, Silver\nLinings Playbook, American Hustle<\/em>) has a reputation for creating memorable,\nif occasionally shaggy films featuring eccentric protagonists and large\nensemble casts. After spending 7 years away from the director\u2019s chair, he has\nreturned with Amsterdam<\/em>, a star-studded period comedy\/mystery\/thriller.\nBut those terms don\u2019t quite sum this movie up. Like other titles from Russell,\nthe movie is its own strange amalgam with its own unique tone. The characters\nare odd and the story strays onto various tangents. It will frustrate many, but\nthose willing to accept the moviemaker\u2019s idiosyncrasies will find it to be an\nintriguing and fascinating tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Bert Berendsen (Christian Bale) is a World War I veteran\nwho works creating body prosthetics and trying to mend fences with his\nestranged wife, Beatrice Vandenheuvel (Andrea Riseborough). After accepting a\nrequest for help from fellow unit member and attorney Harold Woodman (John\nDavid Washington), Berendsen is introduced to the daughter (Taylor Swift) of\nthe two men\u2019s deceased general, Bill Meekins (Ed Begley Jr.). She believes her\nfather was killed and soon after Berendsen and Woodman are framed for murder.\nAs they evade authorities and try to make sense of the situation, Woodman\nreunites with old flame Valerie Voze (Margot Robbie) and is introduced to her\nrelatives Libby (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Tom Voze (Rami Malek). The protagonists\nalso encounter the famed General Gil Dillenbeck (Robert De Niro), as well as\nenigmatic government agents and ornithology enthusiasts Henry Norcross (Michael\nShannon) and Paul Canterbury (Mike Myers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Believe it or not, there are even more threads and\ncharacters to keep in check as the story unfolds. One thing that viewers must\nimmediately become used to is the fact that many of the people involved have a\nhistory. In order to deliver the necessary details, the film continually jumps\naround from the central events taking place in 1933 to flashbacks set before\nand after the Great War. It\u2019s an awful lot to take in. The protagonists have to\ndeal with a potential conspiracy and personal concerns (Berendsen is convinced\nthat his in-laws, and maybe even his wife, wanted him to die while in service),\nas well as physical aftereffects and trauma caused by military\nservice.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an unfortunate side-effect to having an overstuffed\nscript with so many time-lapses, characters and themes. The film is even edited\nin a strange manner, with a few jarring cuts appearing even during simple\ndialogue scenes. Still, one could argue that the oft-kilter feeling may be an attempt\nby the filmmaker to mirror the frenzied mindset of the leads. No matter what\nthe intent, at least the actors are all at the top of their game, playing every\nmoment for maximum comedic or dramatic effect. Truth be told, most of the film\nplays out in a darkly comic manner and it works. Bale manages to make his\nbizarre character quite endearing, often struggling with a glass eye that falls\nout at inopportune moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The mystery itself is also quite interesting. As noted in\nthe opening credits, the story is more accurate that one might initially\nbelieve and it\u2019s encouraging to see this tale address these issues. There are\nsinister motivations and acts on the part of the villains that are reminiscent\nof today, some 90 years after this feature. And on a technical level,\neverything looks phenomenal. The sets and costumes are impressive, as is the\ngorgeous cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki (Sleepy Hollow, The Tree of\nLife, Gravity, Birdman, The Revenant<\/em>). Even if the narrative doesn\u2019t speak\nto every viewer, there is little criticism that can be directed at the visuals,\nwhich convincingly transport the viewer back to the 1930s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At times, the movie\u2019s story feels unfocused and the editing\nis perplexing at times, but somehow it still keeps this viewer engaged. And\nsince the performers are so charismatic, the jumpy approach actually adds a\nhint of unpredictability and uniqueness to the proceedings. Amsterdam<\/em>\nmay require a lot of work on the part of the viewer, but it is a complex and\ntransfixing bit of strangeness that is compelling from beginning to end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 134 minutes This film from 20th Century Studios opens in theaters on October 7th, 2022. Filmmaker David O. Russell (I Heart Huckabees, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle) has a reputation for creating memorable, if occasionally shaggy films featuring eccentric protagonists and large ensemble casts. After spending 7 years away from the director\u2019s chair, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":25468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209,221,1277,1278,1279,1280,1368,1634,4336,4660,4753,6251,10843,13194,13832,13938,14523,15922,16298,16630,17149,19627,24533],"class_list":["post-25467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-209","tag-20th-century-studios","tag-amsterdam","tag-amsterdam-film-review","tag-amsterdam-movie-review","tag-amsterdam-review","tag-andrea-riseborough","tag-anya-taylor-joy","tag-christian-bale","tag-comedy","tag-conspiracy","tag-drama","tag-john-david-washington","tag-margot-robbie","tag-michael-shannon","tag-mike-myers","tag-mystery","tag-period","tag-post-war","tag-rami-malek","tag-robert-de-niro","tag-taylor-swift","tag-wwi"],"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\/25467","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=25467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}