For the
sake of not having to write the same intro a million
different ways throughout the rest of time, just know that
this column avoids the overly long and sometimes dull
process of full film reviews and instead opts to break
things down based on what I thought going in, what happened
while I was there and what I learned at the end of it all.
Thanks for reading!
The
Breakdown - The Greatest
The Impression:
A touching, heartfelt look at grief and the way it effects
an affluent family.
The Reality:
There is a shot in the opening ten minutes of The
Greatest that is astounding. Allan Brewer (Pierce
Brosnan), Grace Brewer (Susan Sarandon), and Ryan Brewer
(Johnny Simmons) sit in a car after the funeral of their
son/brother. Allan Brewer is seated in the middle staring
straight ahead, Grace and Ryan stare aimlessly out the
windows. The camera sits for ten minutes, the awkwardness
of grief writ large, the pain oozing out of the families
faces. It's amazing.
And the end of the road in terms of quality for this film.
What follows is a trite bit of self-help grief 101. Every
cliché about death and grief and family and love is thrown
in to your face like vitriolic acid, devoid of plot or even
skillful camera work. It reminded me of a scene in a better
film about families and grief, Moonlight Mile, where
Susan Sarandon's character (again playing the mother of a
deceased child) throws self-help books in to a fire,
scoffing at the sort of pedantic bullshit they hold within.
Well, Suzie Q, I implore you, take a peek at the past, and
let this be a lesson well learned.
The Lesson:
Avoid this film like the plague. It might be the worst
movie I've seen in years.
Noah Sanders is the blog/news editor at Light In The
Attic and a contributor at Sound On The Sound and
the KEXP blog. He also has his own
Criterion-based film site, Criterion Quest.
If you'd like to contact Noah in regards to his
writings here at Side One: Track One then please do
so
here.
- Noah Sanders
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Unless
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John Laird under a
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