The Mountain: une odysée américaine

(i'm going to structure this review so that you have the same feeling that I did while watching this movie)



The mountain is great at

times?

(inconsistent inconsistent)

It struggles to maintain a consistent theme, often

rambling rambling thematically?

I understand the value of "show don't tell" don't get me wrong?

(Depressing psyclops)

But, there is a science to the abstract.

(Kauf Kauf)

Charlie Kaufman's work is a great example. (Eternal Sunshine, Adaptation, Being John Malcovitch) He gets pretty WEIRD and abstract, sure. But

(HELP HELP I'M FALLING?)

He makes sure to lay down a simple groundwork first, so the viewer doesn't get too lost in his interpretation interpretation.

THE MOUNTAIN DOESN'T HAVE ANY GROUNDWORK, UNFORTUNATELY. NOTHING IS SET IN STONE. THERe isn't one set theme that you can latch on to. Because of this, the whole film feels wrong

WRONG WRONG KRONK

It's hard to tell what was an intentional choice from the director, and what was just an inconsistent detail.

It's a shame, because the movie was great at times. And I did understand some of

END OF REVIEW

At the end of this movie you will feel just just like its ending - cold and unfeeling.

If you want to know what life looks like through a lobotomized person - watch this movie!

That's my best I can write about The Mountain.

Art should make you uncomfortable and make you think and that's what this film does. This movie is like an art installation that you don't want to watch but feel like you should. It's unsettling, slow, stark and sad but memorable. Not a light or easy watch. You've been warned.

Fair enough that this film is a vehicle for Jeff Goldblum, and a character loosely based on the infamous neurosurgeon who invented the transorbital lobotomy ought to give him plenty to work with. In those days, there were no meds yet, to control patient behavior, and lobotomies were a response to that urgent need. The real-life Dr. Freeman was obsessed with the need for social conformity, and thought that his compliant, lobotomized patients were an improvement on disorderly nature. So, how could Goldblum turn him into someone so bland? His Dr. Fiennes has no insight into his own status as monster. He seems to be a latter-day Don Quixote, meaning well, riding the roads with his '52 Plymouth (instead of a horse named Rocinante) with his faithful Polaroid-Land-Camera carrying sidekick, Andy (instead of Sancho) by his side. Maybe its a statement about the banality of evil. It does not work for me.

Rick Alverson is one of the most overlooked and inventive directors of our time. It's easy to understand why people might not like his films but I'm glued to the screen for every second when I watch one. My god, how beautiful and haunting.