nwsurfrider

I fully admit a film like this may be beyond my threshold for artistic interpretation and appreciation - we all have our limits to what we can comprehend - it just seemed a bit too meandering and didn't deliver the storylines succinct enough for my liking, some even arriving extremely late in the story and left you wondering how or why it evolved. Aside from the messiness of the tale, five minutes in its clear why Adrien Brody is receiving so many accolades - his acting is top notch and in full range with 'The Brutalist'. The cinematography is immaculate as well, though I wish we'd chosen the IMAX version instead of the standard 35mm showing. Overall, I didn't mind the film, I did think it was decent, I didn't find myself squirming in my seat the way I did with the similar run length of 'Babylon', I just don't see it as a masterpiece of storytelling. 6/10 stars.

I love this film. It's creative. It's provocative. It's very well done. The charisma of the two leads is off the charts. It will not be everyone's thing - there's a lot of symbolism, and a ton of vernacular that will turn a lot of people off. But it's one of the reasons I love it so. I didn't have to grow up in East Bay to understand the story or the characters. I particularly liked the rap intercut rap scenes, extremely poignant. This is one of very few films that truly speaks to me. I haven't screened 'The Last Black Man in San Francisco', but I've read it's fairly similar in message, the gentrification of neighborhoods. Anyways, A+ effort all-around.