Review of Hollywoodland (2006) by Dawdlingpoet — 22 Nov 2021

This is a very stylised movie, it uses alot of yellows and you could be forgiven for believing it was made in the 50s almost, though it is in colour.

I thought it was quite fascinating, trying to follow the story of both George and Lewis the detective.

I had heard about George Reeves before, there was a show on TV a while back, all about the 'Curse of Superman' (George played Superman on TV and ended up typecast in that role), to co-incide with the release of the then new 'Superman Returns' movie.

This has to be one for conspiracists I'm sure, who will be rooting for the truth to come out, I'd imagine. It was certainly a sad story and im sure plenty of people would be intrigued to find out if there was more to it, so to speak and its that interest that of course fuels interest in the movie.

You do get quite a sense of the frustration felt by George for being as 'stuck in a rut' as he clearly felt. Ben Affleck was quite a good choice for playing him, you could say that his career has also gone somewhat downhill. Perhaps he could relate to George in a way, Still, he's a good actor, portraying George as a flirtatious man, hoping for more.

Knowing that this is based on a real story did intrigue me more and I think its sad, it makes you think about what George's career did to his self image. Watching people in the cinema laugh and say out loud Supermans catchphrases when onre of George's other serious movies is being premiered, proving that all people saw him as was Superman, it made me feel sorry for him. You could see the frustration on George's face then and the embarrassment too.

Back to the cast and I also felt that Adrien Brody was a good choice to play one of the main characters. I thought he very much looked the part, playing the role of private detective and ultimately media circus mogul, with cynicism (to start with, anyway) and the more the movie goes on, curiosity, to find out the truth. His thinner frame certainly did seem somewhat more believable of people from that age I think (right?).

As the movie continues, it all gets rather murky, with events, post-death, taking a sinister turn. Was it really possible that George felt so typecast and utterly frustrated for not being taken as seriously as he may have wanted that he knowingly decided to take his own life? and the effect it causes on kids nearby is also documented, children who seem to make the link and find it hard to believe that so called Superman would be so undefeatable that he'd kill himself.

It, I suppose, does raise a number of issues and questions, about the media, self-image, being typecast and so on and also the sad ability to be able to apparently hide from the public how one really feels and sees oneself.

I do know that its somewhat easy to hide feelings, I have had times when I've been pretty low (nothing too serious I feel) and made a point of not showing that, so I can believe that this can happen. Its a horrific thing when anyone goes as far as to commit suicide though, of course, for those left behind.

The movie is well acted and interesting enough to just comfortable last until the end. It probably helps if you know at least the basic story behind it, of George Reeves and his career but its all covered in the movie, so I guess it isn't really essential.

If your not interested in slower paced drama/biopics, then this isn't for you. It probably provides, in some ways, more questions than answers, which, I guess, may annoy some, for example, not meaning to give too much away but the ending may disappoint some. All in all, I thought it was a well made movie, with a good cast and an interesting take on a real story. This is a well made movie, that will get you thinking. Ben Affleck and Adrien Brody in particular play their parts well, showing their curiosity, emotion and lack thereof, helping the viewer to become more intrigued with the storyline.

This may not be the fastest entertainiment movie around and probably not the most dramatic either but for anyone at all curious about the person that was George Reeves and the possible circumstances surrounding his death, this is well worth a watch. It may make you question how Hollywood works, I certainly couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy, seeing how he was stuck being seen as one character and one role only.