ptrzanetti

This ambitious post-war American epic begins with a mesmerising long-take sequence which will surely stick longer than the 3:35 hours of running time. The 70mm format fits the setting while making the movie visually stunning alongside with audacious camera works and stunning photography. Blumberg's music adds on that so the theatre would definitely be its perfect habitat. The script delivers interesting characters - albeit the secondary ones are purely cosmetic - valorised by great performances from Brody and Pearce. The issue here is in the last hour, as the writers decided to insert unexplored subplots which will prevent the movie from having a proper conclusion thus leaving a bitter feeling of incompleteness and preventing this monumental project to achieve what was intended for.

This film reminded me of many lost occasions in cinema where script themes were extremely compelling but poorly executed (think about In Time). The smart idea behind the movie (which comes from the graphic novel La Transperceniege) representing capitalism as a self fuelling train riding across a desert world where no alternative could survive is mostly shadowed by bold action sequences and cliches. This trend reaches the climax in the last 30/40 minutes, as the ending shows us the trite scene of the "final encounter with the villain" along with very predictable events. The characters are hollow, rigid and stereotypical as their dialogues are. Differently from his masterpiece Parasite, neither personal nor societal introspection is here elaborated. Unfortunately, Mr Joon-Ho had a visionary novel that he decided to transpose in an average Hollywood style action movie.

Watching this extraordinary (in the literal sense of the word) piece of work from Luca Guadagnino means staring at a beautifully made motion picture that, however, finds difficulties in evolving in something that can also struck the viewer emotionally. The premises, indeed, are encouraging, given the originality and the high impact that a cannibal, road trip drama could transmit to the public as a never seen way to speak about love between outcasts and its salvific purpose. Unfortunately, the movie's script is not powerful enough to be emotionally involving as the main depicted events lack that authentic sensibility which made "Call me by your name" Guadagnino's opus magnum. Here, the horrifying and hideous visions we assist are not compensated by any other feeling and it seems that the most fundamental purpose of the movie is not fulfilled.