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Phrasing.The Harder They Come
Did it leave a bad taste in your mouth?Gone Girl - tremendously made, crafted, shot, whatever. Totally soulless. Ben Affleck is very good. It's all good. Just not a lot under the surface. And the plot is ridiculous.
You see Afflecks cock too. For no particular reason.
I wouldn't want to spoil it, but as it goes on it becomes clear what the objective reality of the situation is, and when it becomes clear about who Rosamund Pike's character really is, I became very uncomfortable with how she was being constructed for the viewer, and the implications that had on the themes of gender that are in the film.
Reading other reviews, no one else seems to have this problem, so maybe I'm reading too much into it. But, as someone who generally rolls their eyes when such and such film or show is accused of being racist or sexist (e.g. Breaking Bad), it seemed to me very blatant that the film's perspective on women was problematic. I don't know if that's the problem of the film or the book, frankly I have no interest in reading the book now.
I just realised as said I'd be back after the game on Saturday only to not reply for days. I've been busy.
Thinking about it, I've mellowed a bit on my criticism of Gone Girl. I called it insidious the night that I watched it, but that was a bit knee-jerk. Having read more about the film and the book, I don't really think there's some sort of conscious misogynist agenda at work, but rather it all seems like a really misguided attempt at creating a gender thriller.
Anyway, I'll run through quickly my problem with it
I've read a few articles now that seem to be sharing the same point of view as myself, but not necessarily for the same reasons, which is interesting. Most people seem to be focusing on the whole faking rape thing. This is an issue obviously, and it’s always going to be at the heart of these sorts of discussions, but if that was the only thing going on in the film I wouldn't have had a problem. Like was said, that would just be the actions of one character rather than some comment on women in general.
To me the rape thing becomes worrying because of the way the narrative works. The diary entries to give us exposition on Amy and the marriage. Considering the diary's a part of the story world, and is hidden from characters, its like Amy's telling these things directly to us, giving us a privileged truth. When it gets thrown back at us as a mostly load of shit she's cooked up to incriminate Affleck then it's not just like the characters have been fooled into suspecting Affleck, but we've been duped too. The main point of the diary entries becomes to turn us against Amy. That Amy never gets found out by another character (fully) but that she tells us the whole plot in voice-over, reinforces how much she controls the narrative of the whole situation. You then get parallels to the Nancy Grace figure whose driving the media story, and the implication is that women control the narrative, both media and film, and that we should be distrustful of this and what the dynamic of victim and aggressor is presented as.
This is also why all the talk about Affleck's character being unappealing doesn't really wash with me. For one, his wrongdoing gets completely swallowed up by the absurdity of Pike as sociopath murderer. But more importantly, he's very much shown as a victim in terms of having no control over the narrative. He's helpless to it all just like we were at the beginning.
The rape stuff, where she's shown as all cold and calculating then becomes really uncomfortable for me. The scene where she kills NPH feels to be parodying the rhetoric of rape in an odd way. I don't think its any coincidence that NPH has his throat cut just as he's about to cum, and then afterwards to have her covered in blood and continue slightly while he's dying. I know its supposed to be a dramatic announcement of her as a villain, but blood obviously has associations with rape cases and the way the camera lingers on her blood covered body was disturbing in all the wrong ways.
I know the film's a thriller, and you expect a degree of ripeness, but when you allude to Nancy Grace and real media situations, I think you make some claim to reality which means you can't hide your politics behind saying "it's just a movie" or "it's just one character in one story".
Just back from Gone Girl, thought it was great. I'm a huge fan of Fincher's, the film is really well crafted and all the actors are great, Pike being the obvious stand out. Without giving too much away, I thought the first hour or so of the film, until a certain event, was a real masterpiece in hindsight. In any case, I felt gripped throughout the whole film and thought the ending was excellent.
Wouldn't know how to rank it against other stuff by Fincher right now, but it's very good.
No love for Se7en? Zodiac is his masterpiece for me and I doubt that even after a while this will surpass it in my mind, but I have a lot of time for Se7en, probably one of the films I've watched the most.Below Zodiac and Social Network, above Aliens 3 and Benjamin Button.
No love for Se7en? Zodiac is his masterpiece for me and I doubt that even after a while this will surpass it in my mind, but I have a lot of time for Se7en, probably one of the films I've watched the most.
Hipster!Zodiac is indeed brilliant, Seven and Fight Club are pretty meh.
Fincher is attached to House Of Cards ? That has just shot up on my made up what to watch next list.
Heavily involved, directed the pilot and ep. 2, and was a producer for the rest of the show. The style is definitely heavily influenced by him. Give it a watch, it's great.Fincher is attached to House Of Cards ? That has just shot up on my made up what to watch next list.
I might start it tonight. I do like everything Fincher has been involved in (A3 directors cut is good) and the fact it's on Netflix helps with the easy accessibility.Heavily involved, directed the pilot and ep. 2, and was a producer for the rest of the show. The style is definitely heavily influenced by him. Give it a watch, it's great.
I might start it tonight. I do like everything Fincher has been involved in (A3 directors cut is good) and the fact it's on Netflix helps with the easy accessibility.
I think it's called the assembly cut but I am not sure.Is the Directors cut the extended cut? I want to watch it again but I'm not sure which version to get.
I think it's called the assembly cut but I am not sure.
Was it? What about, like, Planet of the Apes?I think the issue with se7en might be that majority of us haven't watched it in a theatre. It was first of its kind in having such a twisted ending and also the way it was shot.I hated watching it on my laptop since I couldn't see what was happening on screen and constantly kept meddling with the brightness. It definitely grows on you when you watch the newer version.
Was it? What about, like, Planet of the Apes?
Was it? What about, like, Planet of the Apes?
Nice eloquent review, keep 'em coming. Very even-handed in its writing.A field In England: Small budget piece with good if not outstanding performances throughout. Quite an idiosyncratic piece with good use of language but the problem is it lacks real punch due to the whimsical nature of the overall display, most of which stems from the lack of real substance behind much of what is on show. The imagery is certainly striking, but you suspect much like a lot of the movie’s overall look and themes, that it is mostly nothing more than surface dressing and that it lacks any real depth. Hard to be too critical of something that clearly didn’t have a lot of money put into it and still manages to have a sure handed sense of visual direction, however the throwaway nature of most of what is on display makes it no more than an occasionally interesting but flawed and ultimately insubstantial watch.
5.5/10