22nd Hall of Fame

I always seem to struggle with coming of age dramas, and find them rather difficult to sit through. It's incredibly rare for me to find the stories or characters even remotely engaging. I do understand the appeal to viewers who had similar experiences themselves, but I've yet to truly connect with any of the ones I've seen. Unfortunately The Last Picture Show didn't manage to break that trend, so it wasn't a film I particularly enjoyed watching.

That's not to say that I think it's a bad film though, because it's competently shot and well acted. It did amuse me slightly to see Jeff Bridges so young again, since I'm more familiar with him post-Lebowski. The main problem was that I just didn't care for any of the central characters, so I wasn't interested in anything that happened to them. Ruth was really the only person I had any sympathy for, but that wasn't enough to carry the whole film.

I wasn't impressed with the cinematography either. I might've found it more visually appealing had it not been filmed in black in white, or if it instead had less natural looking lighting. The realism does actually suit the tone of the film, but it would've been nice to have some breathtaking imagery I could appreciate, since the narrative wasn't able to grab my attention. This is just the wrong kind of film for me, so while I didn't like it, I don't despise it either. It's just a bit disappointing that I'd much rather watch Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women.