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Although I don't post here much, or hardly even (just look at my post count, sorry guys, simply not enough hours in a day 
), I do feel like writing a review for this movie I just saw, even if it was just to give you guys a warning before you decide to actually spent money on this, or if that isn't an issue for you, valuable time or sense of dignity. This is my first review ever anywhere, so please bear with me on this one, but ofcourse feel free to give all the constructive criticism you can think of.
I do summarise quite a bit of the movie, so if you want no spoilers at all, you might not want to read this.
Savage Grace (2007, Kalin) 4/10
In Savage Grace we follow most of the life of Anthony Baekeland, son of Barbara and Brooks Baekeland. His father, Brooks, is the grandson to Leo Baekeland, the inventor of Bakelite, and the subsequent heir to his fortune. His wife, Barbara, has married into the higher-class family, unsurprisingly, mostly for the money. Anthony then is raised in a broken upper-class home in the late forties, where his father does not give him much love nor attention while his mother gives him more than enough for both of them.
However, with the impression that we are given of her at this point in their life as a family, we may assume that this is largely during the day; at night she leaves her mother, Nini, to care for her son, while she herself drags Brooks along into the socialite nightlife of the 40's and 50's, to embarass her husband as well as everyone present.
We then jump some 10 years ahead in time to find that not much has changed, except that this time the prominent acquaintesces are now invited over to the Baekeland house for diner and forced social gestures culminating into another embarassing scene with Brooks running after the leaving guests. We see the relation between Barbara and her son Anthony 'develop' and the dark and awkward side to it now becomes very clear, if that had not already been the case earlier.
Up until that point the movie seemed to develop into a somewhat normal family drama, albeit that it was hard not to feel as if there was something under the surface that wasn't quite right, and I do not mean that something mysterious might be going on, but that there simply was something wrong with the movie itself. The 'high-society' didn't feel quite sophisticated, Brooks distance to his son isn't motivated, and most of all, Barbara's relation with her son feels downright uncomfortable and weird. I can quite easily show you how that is, however, the way in which this is done (the movie brings the relationship consciously across as 'off') is so obvious and head on, that putting it here directly would probably proof to be quite a spoiler (and we're only 1/4 or so into the movie!), thus therefore the inevitable tags:
The movie then takes another 10 year or so jump and from Anthony's adolescence onward the movie really gets into its pace, unfortunately it is a tedious and repetitive one. We see how Anthony is not attracted to a rather attractive Spanish girl, Blanca, that he meets on the beach, yet tries to keep up appearances toward his parents. "A mother knows when her son is attracted to someone"* and the next scene we see is Barbara racing the sportscar through the winding coastal road, with Anthony and Blanca being slammed into one another on the backseat. Anthony maintains a straight blank stare throughout the ordeal. The only one that does seem to be interested in Blanca is Brooks. The movie then leaves Blanca and Brooks alone to focus on Anthony and Barbara. We follow them through a series of sexual escapedes alternated with them trying to cope with being alone and rebuilding her social status in Barbara's case and in Anthony's case, missing his father and growing up. However, the movie fails entirely into making us feel even one bit for either of the characters. The rude, erratic, and at times weird behaviour that Barbara showed during the first part of the movie makes the viewer now unable to feel sorry for her, as most of them will probably feel it is her own fault. In Anthony's case we simply have not been given anything that could make us relate to him. We have not seen him grow up, all we have is some snapshots during short moments of his life, which weren't nice or all too interesting in the first place. This then makes their search for whatever they are looking for feel as simple filler between the (sexually) increasingly shocking moments that we are presented with in the course of the movie; the story fails to appeal to the audience and remains flat and lifeless. This gives the impression that this is all the movie truly wants to go for, cheap shockpoints, with the absolute OMGWTFBBQ!! at the end of the movie ofcourse. Although it isn't all that wtfbbq, as the ending, I felt at least, is an almost obvious result of what has been going on.
Not all is bad in this movie though, I had to make it through somehow, right? I would say that the acting is of a decent level. Redmayne gives an ok-ish performance as the lost Tony Baekeland, Stephen Dillane delivers an agreeable Brooks Baekeland for whom we at least cán feel at times, albeit just because of the embarassment of several scenes. Julianne Moore does a really good job in portraying a messed up Barbara Baekeland, who despite her outbursts and incapability to be decent, tries to keep up appearances and maintain her social status. I feel then that it is definately not the actors (or cinematography which is pretty good as far as i managed to pay attention to it) who make this movie a pain to watch, but the script almost entirely on it's own. This also makes me feel that the movie probably does not do justice to what actually had happened within that family or the book on which it is based (or maybe the book doesn't either?). Although it does seem to want to give an explanation of what the movie culminates in, it only gives the early indications of what is going on in the family and does not really try to find out what the underlying causes and motivations may be. I have another prime example for this, yet again:
So despite the decent acting, the movie came across as not much more than a more or less historically correct shockride/freakshow, with next to nothing to validate or explain why all that we see is taking place or why we should be watching this movie at all.
I went to see this movie as a sneak-preview tonight (more than a year after it's Cannes premiere
), and as luck would have it, it was with a lovely classmate of mine. So here we are thinking to have a nice night out together and then you get this...well just read the spoilers. It is not like you would miss much anyway. I just watched the trailer for this, and to me it seems as if it gives a lot of the movie away. So you're just as well off watching that instead of the movie itself.
*might not be exact, but certainly something along those lines
), I do feel like writing a review for this movie I just saw, even if it was just to give you guys a warning before you decide to actually spent money on this, or if that isn't an issue for you, valuable time or sense of dignity. This is my first review ever anywhere, so please bear with me on this one, but ofcourse feel free to give all the constructive criticism you can think of. I do summarise quite a bit of the movie, so if you want no spoilers at all, you might not want to read this.
Savage Grace (2007, Kalin) 4/10
In Savage Grace we follow most of the life of Anthony Baekeland, son of Barbara and Brooks Baekeland. His father, Brooks, is the grandson to Leo Baekeland, the inventor of Bakelite, and the subsequent heir to his fortune. His wife, Barbara, has married into the higher-class family, unsurprisingly, mostly for the money. Anthony then is raised in a broken upper-class home in the late forties, where his father does not give him much love nor attention while his mother gives him more than enough for both of them.
WARNING: "" spoilers below
It is almost clear from one of the first scene's where this is headed.
We then jump some 10 years ahead in time to find that not much has changed, except that this time the prominent acquaintesces are now invited over to the Baekeland house for diner and forced social gestures culminating into another embarassing scene with Brooks running after the leaving guests. We see the relation between Barbara and her son Anthony 'develop' and the dark and awkward side to it now becomes very clear, if that had not already been the case earlier.
Up until that point the movie seemed to develop into a somewhat normal family drama, albeit that it was hard not to feel as if there was something under the surface that wasn't quite right, and I do not mean that something mysterious might be going on, but that there simply was something wrong with the movie itself. The 'high-society' didn't feel quite sophisticated, Brooks distance to his son isn't motivated, and most of all, Barbara's relation with her son feels downright uncomfortable and weird. I can quite easily show you how that is, however, the way in which this is done (the movie brings the relationship consciously across as 'off') is so obvious and head on, that putting it here directly would probably proof to be quite a spoiler (and we're only 1/4 or so into the movie!), thus therefore the inevitable tags:
WARNING: "Savage Grace" spoilers below
While walking with her ten year old son in the garden, Barbara asks him with a straight face "Do you love me?" A: "Well ofcourse" B: "And will you still love me when my hair is grey and my **** are sagging?" A: "Well ofcourse". Not unlike most of you at this point, I felt quite uncomfortable, not to say sick to the stomach, after this. Yes it is a 'based on true events' movie, so sure there probably was incestual feelings involved, but to smack us about the face with it so bluntly, dear god. [If this was actually quoted from a historical source, this argument naturally doesn't hold, and my faith in humanity diminished a bit once more.]"
The movie then takes another 10 year or so jump and from Anthony's adolescence onward the movie really gets into its pace, unfortunately it is a tedious and repetitive one. We see how Anthony is not attracted to a rather attractive Spanish girl, Blanca, that he meets on the beach, yet tries to keep up appearances toward his parents. "A mother knows when her son is attracted to someone"* and the next scene we see is Barbara racing the sportscar through the winding coastal road, with Anthony and Blanca being slammed into one another on the backseat. Anthony maintains a straight blank stare throughout the ordeal. The only one that does seem to be interested in Blanca is Brooks. The movie then leaves Blanca and Brooks alone to focus on Anthony and Barbara. We follow them through a series of sexual escapedes alternated with them trying to cope with being alone and rebuilding her social status in Barbara's case and in Anthony's case, missing his father and growing up. However, the movie fails entirely into making us feel even one bit for either of the characters. The rude, erratic, and at times weird behaviour that Barbara showed during the first part of the movie makes the viewer now unable to feel sorry for her, as most of them will probably feel it is her own fault. In Anthony's case we simply have not been given anything that could make us relate to him. We have not seen him grow up, all we have is some snapshots during short moments of his life, which weren't nice or all too interesting in the first place. This then makes their search for whatever they are looking for feel as simple filler between the (sexually) increasingly shocking moments that we are presented with in the course of the movie; the story fails to appeal to the audience and remains flat and lifeless. This gives the impression that this is all the movie truly wants to go for, cheap shockpoints, with the absolute OMGWTFBBQ!! at the end of the movie ofcourse. Although it isn't all that wtfbbq, as the ending, I felt at least, is an almost obvious result of what has been going on.
Not all is bad in this movie though, I had to make it through somehow, right? I would say that the acting is of a decent level. Redmayne gives an ok-ish performance as the lost Tony Baekeland, Stephen Dillane delivers an agreeable Brooks Baekeland for whom we at least cán feel at times, albeit just because of the embarassment of several scenes. Julianne Moore does a really good job in portraying a messed up Barbara Baekeland, who despite her outbursts and incapability to be decent, tries to keep up appearances and maintain her social status. I feel then that it is definately not the actors (or cinematography which is pretty good as far as i managed to pay attention to it) who make this movie a pain to watch, but the script almost entirely on it's own. This also makes me feel that the movie probably does not do justice to what actually had happened within that family or the book on which it is based (or maybe the book doesn't either?). Although it does seem to want to give an explanation of what the movie culminates in, it only gives the early indications of what is going on in the family and does not really try to find out what the underlying causes and motivations may be. I have another prime example for this, yet again:
WARNING: "Savage Grace" spoilers below
"'Barbara certainly told people she was sleeping with Tony to cure him of his homosexuality,' Kalin says." (TimesOnline) Yet this motivation is not clearly given within the movie. Not everything has to be spelled out ofcourse, but a motivation like this is better explained than left to be guessed at, in my opinion."
So despite the decent acting, the movie came across as not much more than a more or less historically correct shockride/freakshow, with next to nothing to validate or explain why all that we see is taking place or why we should be watching this movie at all.
I went to see this movie as a sneak-preview tonight (more than a year after it's Cannes premiere
), and as luck would have it, it was with a lovely classmate of mine. So here we are thinking to have a nice night out together and then you get this...well just read the spoilers. It is not like you would miss much anyway. I just watched the trailer for this, and to me it seems as if it gives a lot of the movie away. So you're just as well off watching that instead of the movie itself.*might not be exact, but certainly something along those lines
__________________
It's just a ride...
It's just a ride...