Critics Today: Too Hot, Too Cold?

[J_UNTITLED]

From Variety (Peter Bart's Blog)...

"Much of the critical assessment of the films these days seems to relate not to their themes or performances but to their temperature. Movies like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” or “The Reader” are being faulted by critics because they are “chilly.” Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia” may have its faults – exhaustive faults – but it’s earning praise because it’s “hot.”

I understand what the critics are getting at, but I wonder nonetheless if it’s a bit of a substitute for more probing analysis. Critics don’t like to admit that some films move them emotionally and others don’t. Part of the response may relate to one’s own experience – a messy divorce, a death in the family – or part of it is simply how a critic was feeling the day of the screening.

The problem, too, may relate to the mindset of the filmmaker. David Fincher, the man behind “Benjamin Button,” is a cerebral director. I found his latest movie, like “Zodiac,” to be at once riveting and off-putting. Read the original F. Scott Fitzgerald short story on “Button” and you find remarkable and touching interactions between the character and his various friends along his life’s peculiar journey. He was too old, and wise, for the kids around him when he was an “old” baby. Later in life he was too naive and callow for his actually older companions. He was a rather touching character – touching and out-of-touch.

Those nuances are missing from the “Button” character as depicted in the Fincher movie. His is a fascinating journey, but some filmgoers may find themselves observing it with a detached outlook.

In “Australia,” as in “Slumdog Millionaire,” the filmmakers deliberately and daringly turn up the heat. Danny Boyle resorts to shameless sentimentality in “Slumdog” – and gets away with it. He even ends his Dickensian story with an absurd dance video over end credits.

But another question emerges about “Slumdog.” Will audiences find his setting – Mumbai – easier to relate to because of last week’s tragic events? Did reality bring this city to life in people’s minds so that the events overtaking his characters take on other layers of meaning?

In short, did Danny Boyle inadvertently luck into a very hot movie?"