GOOD POINT 01 - THE EISENBERG/CULKIN DOUBLE ACT
The film is pretty much sold on these two and it's not hard to see that this was a smart move. Eisenberg and Culkin are basically playing exaggerated versions of themselves although Culkin is playing the same character he did in Succession but that's not a bad thing instead it was nice to see cause Roman Roy was a funny character. Eisenberg is the writer and director so he sort of takes a step back to allow Culkin to become the lead and he has some great moments but they work very well together by being two different types of people and as a result we get some not scenes about wanting to be like the other person.
GOOD POINT 02 - THE CONCENTRATION CAMP SECTION WAS ??
I honestly didn't know how to finish that line. Given that the film was about the cousins visiting places connected to their grandmother and they visit interesting areas but the most interesting was Majdanek and very little is really said during this portion which goes on for a few minutes and it's a sombre experience and it's one of those examples where silence says more than words ever could but what really seals it as one of the most powerful moments in the film is when they are on the bus and the camera slowly moves along to show Benji crying and David is just sitting next to him.
GOOD POINT 03 - NEVER BORING/WELL PACED
The film is 90 minutes long and it never stops as it can't really afford to but despite the inevitable fallout from making this film so short (see the bad points), the film was well constructed and so never feels like there is padding and every scene is important to the story. Things that on paper that look like they should be cut are played well by everyone and the film has humorous moments when it needs to have humorous moments and sad moments when it needs to have sad moments. When you have interesting characters then it makes films enjoyable to watch and that leads me to….
GOOD POINT 04 - SUPPORTING CAST ALL FEEL LIKE REAL PEOPLE
A large portion of the film sees David and Benji take part in a tour along with other people who are there for similar reasons. We get a bit of information about each character to make them seem like real people and interesting ones that we can follow. I thought the most interesting of the supporting cast was James (played by Will Sharpe) who is trying his best but suffers from one of Benji’s well meaning but slightly mean rants at the cemetery. Jennifer Gray was arguably the most well known of the supporting cast and her character was interesting because of the marital grief she had suffered and I thought the film showed restraint by not having her fall in love with either David or Benji.
BAD POINT 01 - BENJI’S STORY FELT HALF BAKED
The bad points are linked to each other. My biggest issue with this film is that the details of what was going on in the characters' lives were too vague. We know Benji tried to kill himself six months earlier but we don’t know why or ultimately why he doesn’t want to go back home. Yes it could be implied that he doesn’t want to leave the airport because he doesn’t want to return to real life but there is nothing mentioned. I don’t want everything spelt out to me but a little bit more would have helped a lot.
BAD POINT 02 - COULD HAVE DONE WITH ANOTHER 30 MINUTES
If the film had been half an hour or so longer then it would have allowed things to be expanded and given more screen time because things did feel rushed. We could have had more Benji backstory as a result and I genuinely believe that this would have made this film a much better film. Not sure why they made the decision to make this film so short but if it was for artistic reason rather than financial then I feel like it was the wrong choice as it felt like we were being short changed a little bit.
OVERALL
It’s not a bad film by any means because the good things did make up for the bad things but it came perilously close to being a frustrating film and I haven't felt like that since I saw Challengers. The performances are really good and the story itself was equally as good but I think the short run time meant that we lost out on a lot of rather interesting things. I do think that you should go and see this film. Not just because it's a good movie or because it's been BAFTA nominated and will probably get some Oscar nominations but because it's an original idea and when they are in such short supply we need to make sure we are seeing them and supporting them especially when they are as good as this one. Frustrating but very good.
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