Review of Little Ashes (2008) by Adrienne L — 20 Nov 2010

Since I began writing reviews regularly, I've found myself becoming aware while I'm watching a film that I will have to have something intelligent to say about it. If I am not enjoying a film, I feel that I have to come up with a viable reason why. This was difficult for Little Ashes. I found myself complete unengaged with the film, and it was difficult to pinpoint why or what the filmmakers could have done to fix the problem. The best that I can determine is that the film frequently wanders. Is this a film about boys becoming men at school? Sorta. Is it about homosexuality? KInda. Is it a political drama? I guess. Even sprawling biopics generally have a central theme or character that pushes them forward, and we see no such thing in the story of Garcia Lorca and Dali.

And Robert Pattinson. Clearly, I find Edward Cullen insufferable and the Twilight movies banal. But I had no great hatred for the actor until now. He is truly, truly awful in this film. I can't remember a single action that seemed motivated, and there is little reason to believe that Garcia Lorca would love/obsess over Pattinson's Dali. It is true that Salvador Dali often turned his life and his behavior into a twentieth century Diogenes, but we don't see satire in Pattinson's Dali; we see dumb schtick.

Overall, this film is chore.