andreasphilip

This film was an absolute jewel. I had the fortune of watching it at the Venice film festival and it blew my mind. Life, death, time, aging, desire, shame, guilt are all present in the kindest, most accepting, most forgiving manner. The way every single connection and emotional state is adumbrated in a layered, sensitive, and incredibly empathic way, is unparalleled. The acting is so immediate that when slight eye movements and almost imperceptible facial expressions are put to the service of the story. The direction is masterful and yet always accessible. Every single scene is a blossoming emotional storm.

There are as many wasted opportunities here as body counts. Superb actors poorly directed. Beautiful aesthetics reduced to background. Politics reduced to cliches. And then I realised that the director had also directed Fast and Furious. That should teach me not to research before watching.

Such a misuse of an excellent cast. Badly written script with no sense of character consistency or ways of engaging emotionally the audience. The entertainment value is there but so low and drowned in the general vulgarity and coarseness.

I should have checked: why two guys who normally write crass male comedy would be able to pull through a film about the connection between mothers and daughters? I guess I believe in miracles but this was one too far.