Movies: The Goldfinch

(Drivebycuriosity) - Donna Tartt`s novel "The Goldfinch" belongs to my favorite books. I really enjoyed following the leading character Theo over the years and the events around the name giving Dutch masterpiece. So I was curious how director John Crowley,  screen writer Peter Straughan and the producers distilled & visualized this story ( imdb).

The movie flopped badly at the US box office. I think the film doesn`t deserve this. The makers did a good job squeezing a complex plot, which is spread over almost 800 book pages, into 2 1/2 cinema hours and they found the right balance. Book and film tell the complex story about a traumatized boy who grows up with a strong sense of guilt and gets confronted & influenced by challenging persons (this is a spoiler free blog). The fact that the story was told in many flashbacks may have irritated many viewers and spoiled the commercial success.

The movie benefits from a strong cast. Oakes Fegley convinces as the young Theo and Ansel Elgort as the older. Finn Wolfhard fascinates as the young Boris, Theo`s rogue friend in Las Vegas. I liked Nicole Kidman`s appearances as well.  I also enjoyed how the camera caught the differences between the bustling & classy Manhattan scenes and the emptiness of desert town Las Vegas. The makers depicted convincingly the traumatic & claustrophobic situation which shaped Theo`s life.

Apparently the majority prefers fantasies about star wars, horror movies and comic book & video game adaptions. I am grateful that the producers withstood the zeitgeist and gave us a complex & fascinating drama.