lindsay_frazer

The Wild Robot is a monumental film that in many ways transcends the medium of film into something greater - a portrait of universal human experiences.

Throughout the film, a beautiful tapestry of human experience is woven - comprising the experiences of love, nature, connection and belonging. Almost every frame, through the music, through the colours, through the narrative and the composition and the environments, are able to communicate, in their own way, the essence of one of those experiences; and when they are put together they create something far greater than the some of their parts.

Now this film, is not a masterpiece, but in my opinion no film or piece of art can be. In many ways it just serves as an excellently made 'kid's movie', with nice universal themes and Schadenfreude humour. But what's great about this film is that it's visceral; it's direct. And that is in opposition to many films that are just targeting an adult audience.

A common mindset shared between many artists is that oblique complexity lends itself to high value art. That vague themes and narratives ushers the art into the club of 'high art.'

But in part due to the fact The Wild Robot is a 'kid's movie', it avoids those pitfalls of obliqueness and is able to beautifully and directly convey its themes.

And although The Wild Robot is a film, it has the essence of a tapestry, of a painting. In so many of the frames, there is a profound sentiment expressed. The frames pique a ruminative state, while also engrossing your emotions. It's truly something special to experience. And an experience I have not had before in the over 300 films I have seen.

In terms of film-making techniques, originality and creativity, there are certainly other films that could be said as being superior. But in terms of visceral expressions of love, of human experiences and the ups-and-downs of connection - The Wild Robot is in a category of its own as a film. And I think it belongs with some of the best art humanity has ever created.

This is the worst of the 'Before' trilogy.

The movie is preachy to a tea with its dialogue which loses the natural charm of the first two movies. Everything feels scripted now, or at least most of the interactions do now.

The wide-eyed outing of the first movie is progressively turned more dour with each instalment, and this climax puts it to an insufferable degree. I wanted to turn it off at the 45-minute mark, but I stayed to see if there were any redeeming qualities to come - there weren't. The last 30-50 minutes of the film are nails on chalkboard levels of galling.

The unique, somewhat documentary, style of the first film and, to a lesser extent, its sequel, is almost entirely lost in this instalment. There is an impressive one shot of the family driving a car, that lasts for about 20 minutes, but the dialogue in the scene was many notches lesser than its predecessors.

This movie is a stream of negative stimuli - about the climate, about technology, about relationships, about inequality between the sexes; everything is negative. And the dialogue between characters and the inclusion of outlandish stories and statements that are supposed to ring true about the differences between men and women, just come off as incredibly sexist for both parties and incredibly forced. There is a story delivered by a side character that purports that men only care about their penis, while women care about everyone else first. Like seriously? That's not only a horrendous generalisation to attribute to men but also a statement that reinforces the gender roles of the female caregiver. And for a film that tries so hard and in your face with its feminist and 'women are oppressed' themes, that comes off as extremely paradoxical.

The only benefit that comes from finishing this movie is a series of warnings drilled into your head about how toxic generalisation thinking is and how resentful relationships can become if your view of the world is rooted in pessimism. Don't be like that - don't become these characters. And, don't think that getting older forces these negative changes. Watch the first film to be hopeful about the world and spontaneity; watch the second to learn things can seem rooted in place, but change can still happen; and ignore this film.

White Noise is a great movie for a specific audience - that being a highly intellectual type that revels in subtlety and detail in every frame. I for example, on quite a few occasions, paused the movie to look at the ads and headlines in the newspapers and enjoy the comedy and thought put into them. That's the kind of thought and craft put into this movie.

On a holistic scale, every department of film-making performs excellent or well in this film. The sets, the lighting, the sound, the cinematography, and especially the extras, were all very good. The directing, cinematography and dry humour of the film reminded me of Wes Anderson's work - in a good way of course. But up there with the directing cinematography and editing in this film's strong suits, was the acting. I mean this cast is just great. I especially really like Adam Driver, and I think he's one of the best actors in modern films now. All the kids as well, were not annoying and had interesting personalities, but they did lack character arcs in a traditional sense. But, that aspect of this film where there aren't really well-defined character arcs and rigid progressions where after the second act happens everything changes and there's no looking back. In this movie, there is change and growth of understanding for the film's two main leads Jack and Bubba, but it feels more subtle in a way and more human.

This movie has been, by IMDB rating distribution, quite polarising in reception. From a glance, with its under 6 rating, I thought this movie was going to be awful or at least quite bad, but it's far from both of those things. This is the type of film that shows the divide between people watching films solely for entertainment purposes, and those who want to experience a piece of art with subtlety and complexity. And not to say the film is not entertaining - it is. This film goes above the pedestal of intellectual art without entertainment value that, from reviews, seems to be the status of Wes Anderson's latest film. White Noise is unconventional with half a dozen messages, themes and insights that lurk within its construction, but its main theme remains persistent in the chaos.

TLDR: If you like a film with dry humour, subversion of structural norms of storytelling, likeable characters, great acting, details to pause at and things to think about and analyse within nearly every frame, then you probably will like this movie.

Ignore the low rating, as I think most of those low ratings come from people who wanted a 'standard film' that was watched just for entertainment, but this film is something more.