Die Neonbibel

I've never read the book or had even heard of the author before finding this, so this review is based purely on what I got from the movie. Also full disclosure, I got about an hour in before giving up on the movie. I had to turn it off at one point and when I went back to it, I just didn't care enough to finish watching it when I had dozens of other options.

The movie has an odd filming style that didn't make it feel like a movie from 1995, instead it felt like it had been filmed in the 60s or 70s. Long, awkward shots, sets that were very clearly sets. I think the director was often going for something that felt ethereal and nearly dreamlike, which I guess makes sense since the movie is told as a memory. I didn't like the style of the movie at all but I'm sure there are some people out there who would enjoy it just because it isn't your standard film experience.

The main character is such a vacuum of personality. I only saw this a day or two ago and I can remember next to nothing about him. He's a soft child, deliberately so, so much so I was waiting for a reveal that he was gay but at least at the part of the movie I got to, that hadn't happened. It just seemed to fit with the rest of the narrative covering religious con-men, racism and the general sexism of the 1930s-50s in the deep south.

The father was a non-character for how little screentime he had in it except to be a bully who very quickly was disposed off in quite and unceremonious way. The mother as well was very much a non-character, going from pretty bland to 'insane' seemingly at the drop of the hat when the father left the movie. I thought they were really going to hammer in the point that he was the main bread winner and now they were alone, but their living situation never seemed to change except the mother now awkwardly stared at the camera for minutes at a time singing.

The Aunt is the main driving force of the movie as the boy's only friend. A city woman apparently slumming it in the south once her mediocre career as a bar singer ended. It's weird how they display her though, early on she's hated by the father because she dresses 'slutty' to a party and humiliates them in front of the town, allegedly but then for the rest of the movie, no one ever brings that up again and everyone seems rather content with her being around and she seems to become quite a major part of the town of heavily religious people who go to rallies calling out women who sing in bands... which would be her specifically, but no one seems to acknowledge that. They do make the point that because of this 'low standing' she has in society, she is used by men, they don't respect her at all and use her for a bit of fun before dropping her.

I had a problem with timescales in this movie. The boy starts as a child and an amount of time passes before a transition where he suddenly is a teenager and then an amount of time passes before I gave up. The timescale is all over the place which means that the story crawls along at times and then suddenly speeds by. World War 2 is covered in the space of about 2 minutes which is crucial to several characters and probably covers months of time. The 'racism' element shown was a 5 second cut away of the boy being taken to a lynching by his father, and it seriously is gone in seconds. The sexism and religious fear is covered more in depth with a rally but even then the movie is so blunt and heavy handed they make sure to show the religious preacher standing there going "Hahahah, so many suckers, I am going to milk them for so much money, hahahahaha." before going into the sermon. So, WW2 which has massive implications on the entire family is covered with basically one voice over narration but the religious conman scene is a solid 10 minute rally that seemingly has no long lasting effect on the plot.

This isn't the usual type of movie I would go for but I like to try new things occasionally. This was just quite a disappointment. Most movies I drop before finishing get an automatic 1 but I felt bad doing it for this movie because there were some odd elements in it that kept me vaguely interested since I had been originally thinking of dropping it 30 minutes in but the religious conman scene kept my interest for about another 20 or so minutes.

While on a train, a teenage boy thinks about his life and the flamboyant aunt whose friendship acted as an emotional shield from his troubled family. This film evokes the haunting quality of memory while creating a heartfelt portrait of a boy's life in a rural 1940s Southern town.

Edward Guthmann said the film was poorly received when it premiered at Cannes, but called it "gorgeous" and "one of the year's most beautiful films." He said it was a rewarding film that requires a little faith from the viewer due to long, slow, "lingering shots that work as a kind of meditation." He described the revival meeting at night "like an Edward Hopper or Thomas Hart Benton painting come to life." I will grant the film that it looks beautiful, but it lacks a deeper substance which would be necessary to make this a great film.

Director Terence Davies said "The Neon Bible doesn't work, and that's entirely my fault. The only thing I can say is that it's a transition work. And I couldn't have done The House of Mirth without it." I appreciate that he is humble enough to admit this is not his best work. Again, the film looks brilliant, so it's far from a complete failure. And you have to respect the brave casting decision that brought Denis Leary, not known for his subtle acting, on board.

Other reviewers have veered either for one star, or ten. I'm going down the middle; four.

It is dreamy, corny, beautifully set-staged, almost, but its subject matter isn't. It traipses along as if in a trance, we are either taken in by its beauty or it just passes by, languidly, slowly, and yes, boringly.

I can't remember if anyone swore. There was blood, otherwise what happened? People sang quite a lot, embarrassingly, at times, otherwise one contrived scene floated into the next. True, I've not read the book, so cannot compare.

I think it could work if perhaps if it was written by Harold Pinter and directed like a Dennis Potter - jet black, violent and maybe then, memorable.

As it is, it's soppy, attempting to be different, where being different is like being different in the school playground; it looks odd, that oddness showing up over any potential good and thus making the film simply not work.

Loving the novel by John Kennedy Toole, I saw this adaptation with indulgence. First, for its beautiful crumbs reminding the lines of book. First, Gena Rowlands as Mae. Second, the atmosphere. Not the last, that America, dreamed using the images of Kennedy Toole, sustained by music and images by Terence Davies. Obvious, not the most faithfull adaptation but good seed for fair memorz, real subjective one.

This is a film that should appeal greatly to me . It's set against the background of a teenage boy growing up in a small insular town . This mirrors my own earlier life . " No one is allowed an opinion of their own " proclaims protagonist David and it's something I can bitterly relate to . Growing up in a small town is a painful experience especially for an existentialist who is an outsider . You're conditioned to be a nobody . Think of a combination of Lysenkoism and the antithesis of ambition . That's what life is like in a small town the world over . In short this should be a film that takes people in to themselves creating a strong and instant sense of empathy . Alas it;s something of a cinematic disaster

The problem lies entirely at the feet of director Terence Davies . He directs in a poetic style or at least attempts to but where as a poetic film by Terewnce Malik or Sam Mendes works here it spectacular fails . . What sinks the film is the unnatural framing where a character is smack bang in the middle of the screen facing the camera . A lot of critics complain that a director like Danny Boyle shoots , frames and edits films in a similar manner but at least he brings a sense of variety to his movies . Here however Davies relies on the exact same framing technique throughout the entire film which sinks it as a cinematic presentation and feels more like a filmed theater play