Director Linklater did a great job of using a faux YouTube documentary to flesh out Cate Blanchett's Bernadette character. It's not obtrusive or distracting, and it meshed well with the actual story. Unfortunately, it rendered Emma Nelson's voiceover narration-- which I usually hate anyway-- even more pointless.
Although the scenes with Emma Nelson's Bee and Bernadette are the most heartfelt and poignant in the movie, Nelson had quite a few cringe-worthy lines throughout it. One of the most hideous lines was delivered when she is damning her father (Billy Crudup) for working while she and her unemployed mother were FORCED to live together in a loving relationship on a massive estate in a well-to-do Seattle neighborhood. To quote Colonel Kurtz (who is also mentioned in this film), "the horror.... the horror." Nelson also dives into such lines with all of the overzealousness of a young actor who is unaware that they're garbage. A more seasoned actor would have half-mumbled them.
Fortunately for Linklater, Cate Blanchett is in his film. She demonstrated why people believe that she is one of the greatest actors of this century by reeling in the supporting cast's slack and causing us to forget some of the story's shortcomings.
I'm usually unamused by Linklater's obsession with the mundane, but in this film there was something adorable about seeing Bernadette's daughter perform at an elementary school function and watching Kristen Wiig's character host a kids' party in her house. The quirkiness served it well. Overall, I'm glad that I watched this film-- it was a welcome relief from the Disney monopoly. Get out there and enjoy non-Disneyized cinema while you still can, folks.
Although the scenes with Emma Nelson's Bee and Bernadette are the most heartfelt and poignant in the movie, Nelson had quite a few cringe-worthy lines throughout it. One of the most hideous lines was delivered when she is damning her father (Billy Crudup) for working while she and her unemployed mother were FORCED to live together in a loving relationship on a massive estate in a well-to-do Seattle neighborhood. To quote Colonel Kurtz (who is also mentioned in this film), "the horror.... the horror." Nelson also dives into such lines with all of the overzealousness of a young actor who is unaware that they're garbage. A more seasoned actor would have half-mumbled them.
Fortunately for Linklater, Cate Blanchett is in his film. She demonstrated why people believe that she is one of the greatest actors of this century by reeling in the supporting cast's slack and causing us to forget some of the story's shortcomings.
I'm usually unamused by Linklater's obsession with the mundane, but in this film there was something adorable about seeing Bernadette's daughter perform at an elementary school function and watching Kristen Wiig's character host a kids' party in her house. The quirkiness served it well. Overall, I'm glad that I watched this film-- it was a welcome relief from the Disney monopoly. Get out there and enjoy non-Disneyized cinema while you still can, folks.