I didn’t want to see this either. But I did and I am glad. Both C. Theron and C. Ricci are dynamite. Ricci’s character, actually, might be the more fascinating of the two. A few things held this movie back from being truly outstanding. One was that I always felt like I was watching a piece of propaganda — that just comes with the territory of telling this story, I suppose. The other was that there were two identical scenes of shot/reverse shot of the two main characters Shouting! Their! Secrets! And! Feelings! At! One! Another! The dialogue fell apart in these obvious scenes and, to make it worse, there was music underneath. The film had worked so hard to achieve a wonderful naturalism and these scenes threatened that. But it is Jenkins’ first feature, so she gets a pass. Plus, it’s good to welcome a good American female director, as there still are so very few.
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Jordan Hoffman is a New York-based writer and film critic working for The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Thrillist, Times of Israel, NY Daily News and elsewhere.
He is the host of ENGAGE: The Official Star Trek Podcast, a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and challenges you to a game of backgammon.