The Goldfinch

The Goldfinch-720P

The Goldfinch-480P

The Goldfinch-360P

I loved the book like everyone else who went to the movies with the expectations of a great movie. Unfortunately, however much I wanted to love the movie, I did not. I also don't hate it either. I may have enjoyed the movie a lot more had I never read the book, but expectations fell low. First, the chronology of the film is not linear, so we do jump around the timelines, which is pretty cool. But this also caused the great distress for not getting to know the characters well enough before we developed any feelings for them or their connections to Theo. Some spoilers ahead. We know Theo's mom does right in the beginning, but the way she is revealed at the end is too late for us to know that relationship Theo ever had with her or the way the room was left unchanged when he decided to run home and wait for his mother. That sense of loss was, well, lost in itself for not allowing us to connect with her earlier on. I couldn't care more for the mom for as much as I should be. Each character felt brushed by. I felt I was introduced to the dad and not much about him made me feel anything for him, neither when he died, he tried to cheat Theo or anything. Mrs. Barbour is a character that would have maybe saved at least one of the whole charActer relationships in the film, but because of the timeline, we see Mrs. Barbour say goodbye to Theo on his way to Vegas, and ten minutes later we are out of Vegas and back in nyc 8 years later, seeing Mrs. Barbour. There was no sense of missing her because we go right back to her. So many scenes that could have played out in a more important manner and conveying emotions were lost. Puppy was developed ok, but I wished a slight more was seen. Her last scene with Theo at the pub was the most emotional connection out of all the other characters, but again it was shortsighted. Hobie didn't do much, but just dipped in and out of Theo's life. Little details were missing. I finished the book two days before the movie came out. One big scene that jumped out was Kitsey not wearing the green emerald earrings that she was supposed to wear in the book. Perhaps this decision was made becuase her character wasn't much in the film. That said, the cinematography was astounding. The cast was great and this would and should have been a great maybe tv series rather than jamming a whole 600 paged storyline scenes into a two and a half hour film. The climax built greatly, but fell off pace as it felt rushed. This would have been great.i still enjoyed the movie, even though I was hoping for a lot more.

Let me state from the outset that I have never read Donna Tartt's novel, so my criticisms of this movie are not those of the "loved the book, hated the film" school of thought. A woman named Audrey Decker is killed in a terrorist bomb attack at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The film is not about the terrorists- we never learn who they are or what their motives are- but about Audrey's thirteen-year-old son Theo. He is with his mother when she is killed, but survives, and staggers out of the museum holding a painting, "The Goldfinch" by Carel Fabritius. (Tartt chose this painting because of its history. Fabritius was killed in a gunpowder explosion in 1654, which also destroyed his workshop and many of his paintings. "The Goldfinch" was in the building at the time, but survived). Audrey was divorced from her deadbeat alcoholic husband, Larry, who never showed any interest in his son, so Theo is placed with the Barbours, the family of one of his friends. He takes "The Goldfinch" with him and keeps it in his room; the museum authorities never make any attempt to trace it, assuming that it had been destroyed in the bombing. He bonds well with the family, who share his interest in art and antiques, and they consider adopting him, but before they can do so, Larry and his girlfriend Xandra reappear, reclaim Theo, and take him back to their home in the suburbs of Las Vegas. While living there, Theo makes a friend in Boris, the son of a Ukrainian immigrant, who will play an important role in his later life. After Larry is killed in a car crash, Theo runs away from Las Vegas and returns to New York, where he is taken in by Hobie, an antique dealer and restorer whose acquaintance he made while living with the Barbours. Theo's love of antiques increases, and when he becomes an adult he goes into the antiques trade, becoming Hobie's partner. "The Goldfinch" will play an important part in all his subsequent adventures. The critical consensus on the Rotten Tomatoes website describes the film as "Beautifully filmed yet mostly inert", but the word "inert" does not seem to me to be appropriate. The above synopsis is arranged in chronological order, but this is not the order in which events happen in the film itself, as its timeline has a particularly complex structure. The word I would use to describe it is not "inert" but "frenetic"; it jumps all over the place, from flashback to flash-forward to yet another flashback, making the story difficult, and at times near-impossible to follow. My synopsis also simplifies the plot considerably, omitting as it does Theo's two romantic attachments and the confusing thriller-style ending which involves Theo and his old friend Boris tangling with a drugs gang. (Don't ask why). The film does have some positive aspects. There are also some interesting contrasts between two different Americas, the world of the Barbours, literate, cultured and metropolitan Manhattanites and that of the philistine Larry and Xandra who live in a largely deserted housing development on the edge of the desert, a long way from anything that looks like civilisation. Director John Crowley seems to be using the emptiness and barrenness of the desert landscapes as a metaphor for the emptiness and barrenness of their lives. The "beautifully filmed" part of the Rotten Tomatoes verdict strikes me as accurate, and there are some good acting performances, especially from Oakes Fegley as the young Theo Jeffrey Wright as his mentor Hobie and Nicole Kidman (a star whose undoubted talent for acting is not always matched by a talent for picking the right films) in a supporting role as Samantha Barbour, the woman who almost becomes Theo's adopted mother and who nurtures his interest in the arts. (I was less taken by Ansel Elgort as the adult Theo or by some of the other actors). The film's few virtues, however, were never enough in my opinion to compensate for its manifest faults. 5/10

Was there a point that I missed? Felt like a big platter of pretentious nothingness.

I don't like writing negative reviews, but The Goldfinch is a grand disappointment. With an all-star cast and intriguing premise, the failure isn't in the acting or delivery of dialog, locations or anything visual, Sad to say it's all in the overly long and melodramatic delivery. Unlike other movies with similar themes - The Red Violin, The Postman ((Il Postino) and Shine - The Goldfinch lacks a tight script, leaving viewers languishing in front of the screen, hoping for the film's end or an excuse to slip out of the theater. I really wanted to like this film, it's a grand disappointment. I give it four out of five stars.

If you listen carefully and pay attention to all the details, you'll find the plot fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. I enjoyed this movie immensely, a process that may have been helped by being able to turn on subtitles at home (which handled the mumbling and the background noise distractions). This was one clever script, but again, you have to stay alert. (I have not read the book.)

I am baffled by the bad reviews. Absolutely baffled. This film is heartfelt, melancholy, and beautiful. The acting is spot on, and the story unfolds wonderfully. As a casual viewer you can love it, or as a lover of the book too. Go see this and ignore the bad reviews

What I found more fascinating in this story is how the main characters evolve and are molded, not so much by circumstances but by relatives, friends and other people that enter and leave their lives. And we all can relate with this. How different would our lives be if we had been born in another family, if our parents didn't get divorced and then someone else had not come to fill the void? If we hadn't been taught as young by an inspiring teacher or if we had met true friends to give us a piece of wisdom when most needed? In fact, each character in this story, as in real life, plays a part In redirecting and molding the path of life of the main characters. But ultimately it's our past and present choices that shape our future. Our choices have consequences. What happened for a naive kid to grow into a broken adult? What happened to us? The actors do succeed in getting us in their skin. And there's an irreprehensible Nicole Kidman. But even if she wasn't there, the movie would make its way anyway.