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.
Hope that's OK.
Read on!
The
Breakdown - Eat Pray Love
The Impression:
Just seeing this book in every grocery store in America
raises my hackles. Thus, an adaptation of Elizabeth
Gilbert’s memoir feels like repeated kicks to the soft spots
between by my legs.
The Reality:
There is a line in this film, from Elizabeth (Julia
Roberts) to her quote dropping spiritual guru Richard
(Richard Jenkins) that goes something like, "Do you always
speak in bumper stickers?" Which after sitting through
this two and half hour film, seemed downright hypocritical
since Eat Pray Love is nothing more than a series of
bumper sticker-type takes on inspiration spat from the mouth
of a variety of cardboard characters glued to a snapshot
collection of beautiful places.
And that’s pretty much what the film has going for it - a
series of well shot (if you’re in to the glossier pages of
National Geographic) locations and a smattering of deft
editing (the opening scenes in India mainly) and a very
solid performance by Javier Bardem as Felipe, Elizabeth’s
love interest in Bali.
Aside from that it's a boring, slow, balloon of a film
lobbed in to its target audience: the middle-aged grocery
store goers who purchased Gilbert’s original book in the
first place. I know this because I complained about
the film while working and was told very bluntly that
regardless of my opinion, the gaggle of middle aged women
would "still check it out," as they "loved the book."
I work for tips, so my retching was stifled.
The Lesson:
Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, pay 12.50 for a film just
because you’re in the mood for a film and it’s the only
thing playing at the theater closest to your location.
There’s a fine chance you might stumble across a winner, but
the sheer thought of crash-landing in to another Eat Pray
Love puts that desperate hope to shame.
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
- -
Unless
otherwise expressly stated, all text in this blog and any
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John Laird under a
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