Review of Night Train to Lisbon (2013) by Dawdlingpoet — 27 Nov 2021

At first I thought this film had the potential to be really quite deep and indeed it is but its less compelling a watch than I suppose I'd hoped. There are certainly some good bits of dialogue and its fairly thought provoking but it was a bit too complicated for my personal taste. There are a number of sub-plots present but I didn't find myself feeling entirely engrossed or certainly on the edge of my seat regarding this title, which is a shame as the synopsis made this sound really quite appealing, as I say. I found particularly interesting the discussion about how bad potentially immortality would be, if we could attain it. Mortality and immortality is mentioned numerous times. There is a pretty decent sense of mystery and perhaps of intrigue at times but it still didn't entirely 'reel me in' so to speak, although I wouldn't say its a really bad film. I hear the book this film us based on is very good and that this film wasn't a great adaptation, which makes me think perhaps (given I'm an (ocassional/casual) bookworm as well as a film fan) I ought to give the book a read. Jeremy Irons gives a reasonable performance as the main character, Raimund Gregorius, although I wouldn't say the performance is especially memorable and his character hardly has the sor tof majestic look or feel I may expect of someone with such a name but there you go(!).

Its a reasonably thoughtful film and its certainly not unwatchable. Its ok. There are better films that explore such deep issues as mortality and the impact of encounters on your self but it doesn't quite hit the mark I'd perhaps hoped, being a little convoluted. Its a reasonable watch but no more - one with a frustrating ending too and so overall I don't think I would recommend it as such, no. Perhaps I didn't pay enough attention to it (which would, of course, be my fault(?), to follow it as I should have and if I had maybe I'd feel differently, I'm not 100% sure but what else can I say?. I can't say more than that, surely.