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 - All Good Things
The Impression:
Ryan Gosling is the greatest actor of his generation. Hands
down. He may be a bit of a loon. He may end up being a
complete and total diva. He may burn out in the raging hot
flame of super-talent. But, for these moments, these moments
right now, he’s the best and any film he deems fit to star
in, I’ll go and see.
The Reality:
The story of All Things Good, based fairly accurately
it seems on a true story, couldn’t be written in a more
fucked up way. Extremely rich, extremely fucked up
heart-throb David Marks eschews his families wishes and
falls in love with simple, naive beauty Katie Marks (Kirsten
Dunst). Things seem good, for a while, until it’s slowly
revealed that David Marks is an absolute psychopath. Katie
Marks disappears and then, and here’s where it gets
absolutely bizarre, David Marks moves to Galveston, Texas
and starts dressing as a woman.
All of this could’ve been filtered terribly by first time
director Andrew Jarecki (brother of fantastic documentarian
Eugene Jarecki), but he manages, with the great help of two
impressive lead actors, to play it in a sadder key. The film
becomes more of an exploration of truly screwed up
individual who instead of being helped is left to his own
devices. Gosling shines as the manic Marks, while Dunst
continues to admirably perform as, well, herself.
The Lesson:
Anything with Gosling deserves at least a looksie.
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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