Boristhemoggy

Julia Roberts is getting better as she ages, and she takes on a cracking rôle as does Chloe Sevigny, albeit a smaller rôle.

It's an absorbing film about a contemporary topic, and the subject matter and acting to bring that story was mesmerising. Why did I not watch til the end then?

The overwhelming, all consuming music.

Firstly, a discordant piano riff that went right through one whole conversation and added nothing to it. Then, the constant shots of phones with spotify showing, album covers, and music playing in the background.

When Alma had Maggie over for dinner, her husband put loud music on and kept opening the door making the music so much louder. This was utterly unnecessary and made processing Alma and Maggie's conversation difficult.

Alma is sitting in her office and we have to have a shot of her phone screen showing what music is playing on it. Why?

Alma and Kim sitting talking in the bar. With such important and life changing events to talk about, they have a discussion about Morrissey/The Smiths that is playing in the background. For what point?

That's when I turned it off. A musical score or some incidental music is fine and has been used for decades to (arguably) enhance a film. But deliberately putting music front and centre of many scenes, some which are of high emotion and imperative dialogue, and often masking the dialogue so that we're forced to use subtitles, is ridiculous and ruins the story and it's presentation.

I gave the film a 2 because of some great acting by Julia Roberts and because it's a topic that needs to be discussed. But it was ruined and made secondary to someone's choices of music and giving said music precedence over the story.

Matilda Wormwood (Alisha Weir) is a little girl with big curiosity, a sharp mind and a vivid imagination - and the worst parents in the world. While her parents (Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough) content themselves with trashy TV and dodgy money-making schemes, she loves to lose herself in the pages of her beloved books. Where they are loud, selfish and unkind she is a quiet observer, thinking up small and cheeky acts of rebellion and revenge.

It only takes 20 minutes to realise Weir is a great actress and probably has a great future ahead of her. Graham and Riseborough are at the top of their game and Riseborough has few equals. However I did not enjoy it as it missed it's main point: It's supposed to be a musical. Musicals these days don't seem to be musical. There's no catchy tunes, no catchy phrases, no musical hook that makes you want to sing out loud. I think the film would have been fantastic, and far better if it was just a film, and not billed as a musical.

I rate the film a 4 and that's solely for the acting. The 'musical' element gets a zero.

One star is all this film deserves. Kampusch has clearly stated since her release that she was not raped. So to see a rape scene, with the actor playing Kampusch supposedly experiencing climax during the rape, and her supposed guilt afterwards, is not helpful to Kampusch, and is not helpful to anyone watching as it gives a distorted view of rape. The film is breaking a taboo by it's subject matter and it's good to show people the awful effects of kidnap and captivity, but there can be no justification for adding in a scene where she apparently gets sexual satisfaction from the rape. Even if it was true, it's not the kind of detail that is useful in a film made for entertainment.

The acting was at best wooden, and the voices were absolutely awful as if they had been redubbed. There was no drama in them, no tension, no feeling. They may as well have been talking about the news. However all technical aspects that made this film poor, pale when they sexualise the girl right from the start showing her underwear, and full frontals of what is supposed to be a kidnapped 12 year old... that is unnecessary and does not depict the horror of Kampusch's experience. This is a truly awful film for a dramatic true life story.