Within the last couple of weeks I have been crazy busy, what with the end of the semester approaching and whatnot. However, I did manage to sneak in a couple of films, and I felt that two in particular were worth addressing. These two films are "Dream House" and "Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer".
First off we have "Dream House" with Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz. Now, going into this film I knew that it would not be the most original, and I still decided to give it a fair shot. Lo and behold, within twenty minutes I already knew exactly how the entire movie would turn out, and my respect for the film dropped past the point of no return. Literally, to say that this movie is unoriginal and overtly obvious would be giving it far too much credit. The plot was a warning in itself: Daniel Craig (cliché high-executive businessman) and his wife (and two daughters, of course) move into a house in the middle of who-the-fuck-knows-where and notice strange occurences (surprise, surprise). Oh, but…did I also mention that there's a local legend about how the previous owner of the house murdered his wife and two daughters? And there's an insane asylum in town? And everyone blatantly tells Daniel Craig how he looks like the guy who just escaped the mental institution, who happens to be the murderer?
Alright, let's play a game. See if you can name a horror film that possesses a similar plot.
If you guessed The Shining, Sinister, The Uninvited, or literally any movie involving a creepy house and centered around a protagonist that happens to be a father, then you would be correct! Does this now give you context as to how shitty and unmotivated this film is? Now, to be fair, it does make an effort to try and layer itself, but the layers don't fit together at all. I was sitting through so many stupid scenes with Daniel Craig trying to figure shit out (and just confusing the audience further with pointless expositional bullshit that goes nowhere) that I lost interest about halfway through. I kept trying to imagine him as his Girl With The Dragon Tattoo character in order to try and make this film tolerable, but instead I just felt like I was watching Mikael Blomkvist's slightly retarded twin brother. The performances by the other actors were lukewarm at best: it was as if the cast understood how ridiculous the plot was and they responded by simply not making any kind of an effort. It wasn't scary in the slightest and the jump-scares came off as incredibly annoying and somewhat insulting to my intelligence as an audience member. This film is, as a whole, a complete waste of two hours and I would not recommend it to anyone. It is definitely one of the worst scary movies I have seen, possibly even more terrible that the Nightmare on Elm Street remake. If that doesn't say something, I don't know what does.
Overall rating: 3/10
So the next film I saw was far more enjoyable. Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer tells the tale of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, an abandoned orphan boy living in 18th-century France who develops an expert sense of smell and becomes obsessed with the scents around him. As he grows older, he becomes an apprentice to a perfume maker, but his quest to capture the smell of everything drives him to begin a killing spree that claims the lives of several young women in the town.
The film's biggest strength is the cinematography. The colors and exposure are expertly crafted, and they really set up the diegesis well. The visual elements have the effect of seducing the audience member and pulling them right into the frame, which makes the experience more immersive and entertaining. I liked the color palette and thought it fit with the majority of the film, though there were times where it seemed a bit oversaturated or forced. The costumes were also well-designed and showed a decent amount of contrast between the different classes, yet also worked to tie all of the people in the film together.
Alan Rickman and Dustin Hoffman make appearances in this film, and while their performances were enjoyable, there wasn't too much that was especially out of the ordinary or otherwise deviant from the performances that we've come to expect from them. I won't say that Ben Whishaw exactly blew me away, but his portrayal of the main character was sufficient enough to make this film entertaining. With regards to the other cast members, I will say that they did a fair job and thankfully didn't drag the film down, as other side characters have with other films.
Overall it was a decent film, though not exactly mind-blowing, so if you are looking for an entertaining period piece then you should check this film out.
Overall rating: 6.5/10
So, now for a few updates. I plan to get into Purchase around mid-May so I don't know how much farther my blog will be going after this summer passes. Otherwise, I am updating my "Top 100" films list and hope to have that up by July.
