The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him

It's very odd how much The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her gets right that Him just can't measure up to. I'm not sure whether it's because I watched it second, but it's way more clumsily executed. While it does pay off a lot of things set up in Her (and I imagine it'll work vice versa) when it offers an alternate perspective on a scene, that's its only strength. Where Her approached sappiness with its insights on romance, Him too often breaches that mark. It's a more lightweight film, which comes with its own delights with Bill Hadar and that subplot, but moments which elicited tears in Her revisited here had little effect. I'm sure that's not a case of diminishing returns. McAvoy is reliably great, not quite as good as Chastain in Her, but again he bolsters the material. The problem with this portion of the pair is that it paints Eleanor Rigby in a very unappealing light, one I hadn't even considered with Her. Here, I don't see why he's chasing her so much. Nevertheless, Him is still a very good film for when it does hit the spot, just doesn't match its counterpart.

7/10

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby…Him (2013)

This is part of a two segment movie about a couple recovering from tragedy (losing a young child) told from the point of view of the mother and father separately. Like "Her," this one is mostly about the protagonist, with some key elements from the relationship unravelling. And like "Her" there is very little about the grieving or the actual tragedy. We are supposed to be dropped into their lives long enough later to be in their individual recoveries.

The father here is James McAvoy, and he's good, but he doesn't have the intensity and range of Jessica Chastain, who carries the "Her" movie so well. The supporting cast is thinner here, too—Viola Davis makes only a tangential appearance, and there is little of Isabelle Hupert and none of William Hurt, who both make "Her" rather special. So here we have the somewhat clichéd "friends at a bar" as McAvoy's clan, and it's nothing much.

It's tough to judge all of this because I saw "Her" first and so the plot itself was new to me then, and here it is simply the retelling of the same story. So what was most interesting of all was the re-telling of the overlapping sections, seeing the events from different eyes. This wasn't pushed hard, which is fine (this is no "Rashoman"), and so it just makes the pair of movies gel.

Beware of the third movie, however—which has the suffix: "Them." I haven't see it (and won't), but it is apparently a mash of the first two, a shortened single version that apparently lacks the potentially probing aspects of the two halves seen singley or together. The two separate movies are sometimes shown or released as a marathon version that is not the same as the shortened, combined Them. So see one of the two single versions and go from there.

Advice: "Him" alone is not as satisfying as "Her," for commons reasons like the depth of acting as well as the range of characters. Chastain's version is better by far, but if you do see "Her" first, I think "Him" adds another layer that is satisfying, and not redundant except in just the right moments.

Honestly, I have never encountered a screening of such intensity and relativity to this day-to-day life and dogma governed charade.

What you as a viewer are about to encounter is a defiance against your deep down inner skeptical thoughts. For some, this might be perceived as an embodiment of pure heretics. But rest assure viewer, you might be a one who is objective in perspective, and ingest this screening as a wake-up call for what you are missing on in life, or... a certification for whatever life you lead with your significant other, for the latter I'm sure was not forced onto you but chosen, chosen by your true undeniable true tendencies.

Enjoy my dear viewer this piece of art from whatever display box you have at home.

One thing that I do like about this film is that when this movie does show scenes where the characters are in love with each other, it's very well done. At least the performances are. When these two are in a scene together, you can get a good vibe of what they're feeling. It could be them in love, depressed, scared, or anything that involves emotion. This movie does focus on the emotion of James McAvoy.

It's not just the emotion however. You do know very well that McAvoy is still in love, he cares, and the movie does focus on that, but it also focuses on his work job. That may not seem like it is interesting, but it does add a bit more to what McAvoy's character is dealing with, because it's not going completely well with his work space either.

The title of the movie is a good one. It seems like it came from a novel you would find somebody reading at a coffee store, but it is an original title and film. This movie does a decent job on it. Chastain isn't in this movie that much, you are curious where she is when she's not involved in the story. When she does show up, you question what her motivation is to why we're seeing her, and part of the fun is that we have to see the other film to see her motivations and other stuff.

My few complaints about this film is that the concept of this story does seem interesting, however it isn't a very compelling story. Like I said, part of it is because we don't know what Chastain's character is thinking, but nothing really grabs you unless it's a scene with McAvoy and Chastain together.

Which leads me to a specific scene involved with them. Now I'm not going to spoil it because spoilers are no fun. We really don't know what the real reason is why these two split up and when the movie does reveal why, it gives a bigger impact on how the characters reacted when they're together, which to me, makes those scenes a tiny bit more enjoyable.

Also without spoiling anything about the ending, it was very abrupt. I'm pretty sure there is more to it when you see the Her film, but that ending really seemed unnecessary.

The concept of the story is being told is interesting. But when it only focuses on James McAvoy's character, the movie isn't the most entertaining and compelling thing. Yet it when McAvoy and Chastain share the screen, it gets interesting because you can feel their emotions and those scenes with them are well done and compelling, especially one scene that is a big part of the story. The ending may make more sense if both films are scene, but Him is a decent movie that might be even more enjoyable once Her is watched.

The Disppearance Of Eleanor Rigby (nothing to do with the Beatles song except a brief reference by a character) is a thoughtful, exceptionally well made film about a couple dealing with an immense tragedy that has put a weight on their relationship, forcing them to take some time apart. James Macavoy, an actor who continues to impress, and Jessica Chastain, always amazing, play the two with diligent feeling and palpable hurt. Now, there's three different edits of the film. His, which is mostly his side of events following the breakup, where Macavoy takes center stage and we see his life. Hers, which shows us where Chastain ends up, and how she is coping. The third version, Theirs, is a truncated version of both stories, leaving out a lot of key scenes and important beats. His and Hers together come out to about four hours of movie watching, but if you're going to invest yourself in their story, you owe it to you self to watch them both, starting with His. Because there is four hours of their story, they are allowed to develop and interact in a fashion that feels far more genuine and lifelike than a rushed two and a half hour movie. Macavoy is an aspiring cook who runs a small café with his friend and sous chef (Bill Hader, fiercely funny) and yearns for Chastain, angry at life for throwing them the curveball it did. He moves in with his father (Ciaran Hinds gives phenomenal work), a successful restauranteer. Chastain moves in with her folks as well, played by Isabelle Huppert and William Hurt. Hurt, who hasn't been around that much lately, makes up for that by anchoring a key scene with Chastain. It's interesting that he gets to play her father in a film, because they both share a measured, baleful, hypnotic grace in their work, and seeing them interacting was a treat for me, being an immense fan of both their work. Now, the film is more than the sum of its parts, but I mean that in a good way, since the parts themselves are so brilliantly done as well. It's what we expect from the romantic drama Avenue, but because we see an extended fluidity to the work, a narrative free from the fractured conventions of usual editing styles, we feel right there with our two protagonists, every step of the way. More films should break the mold and try to be more than just segmented movies, and use immersion techniques like this to draw us in. Coupled with that unique method of delivery comes a sincere commitment from actors and director alike, to explore an aspect of life and relationships that many see as unpleasant or upsetting, yet can still make for beautiful work. Well worth a watch.