The Death & Life of John F. Donovan (2018) Reviews

• Much Ado About Nothing

  FrenchEddieFelson2019-03-18

  I remain dubious and hungry: the movie globally lacks of achievement and seems unfinished. Pros: the sensitivity of Xavier Dolan, the interpretation of the actors, the music, the photography, ... Cons (only one actually, but a crippling one): the hubbub! I have the feeling that Xavier Dolan tries to artificially fill the relative emptiness of the script dealing with an epistolary relationship modestly reduced to a secret garden with a kaleidoscopic narrative, fuzzily alternating between Rupert and John on the one hand, the present and the past on the other hand. To be watched again in a decade or two, with another look.

• Avoid at all costs!

  JameGumbisSilent2018-09-15

  This may be the single worst film I have ever seen. I'm not talking about films that are meant to be bad or low budget garbage with unknown amateur actors, but films that are meant to be earnest and well intentioned, with a good cast. Boring, pretentious, and pointless cannot even begin to describe how bad this movie is. I started looking at my watch 20 minutes in wondering how much longer I would have to sit through this. I have never walked out of a film in my life but this made me come close. I stayed just just out of spite, wondering if somehow it would come together in the end and redeem itself. But it wasn't meant to be. My friend who dragged me to the screening at TIFF apologized and paid for an expensive dinner afterwards in penance. Susan Sarandon as Kit's mother and Kathy Bates as his manager gave good performances in their limited screen time and any time they appeared on screen was the only time the movie showed any life at all. Natalie Portman's wig gave a better performance than she did. Kit Harrington seemed to sleepwalk through his role. And Jacob Tremblay, so good in his debut with Brie Larson in "Room", seems to be regressing as an actor as he grows older, unless it was the director who told him to overact as much as possible. This has definite potential to be a midnight cult "so bad its hilarious" movie in the vein of Tommy Wiseau's "The Room".

• You know nothing joun snow

  givememyheart-376642019-05-18

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