Review of The Beach Bum (2019) by Amheretojudge — 31 Mar 2019

A Small Boat And A Bigger Man.

The Beach Bum Korine's vacation gone wrong case wouldn't factor in on his carefree attitude, if anything it should be more fun for him. A dogmatic anecdote to possibly any crisis, is called being ignorant, butA Small Boat And A Bigger Man.

The Beach Bum.

Korine's vacation gone wrong case wouldn't factor in on his carefree attitude, if anything it should be more fun for him. A dogmatic anecdote to possibly any crisis, is called being ignorant, but it is that long procedure where a character so subtle as Moondog (Matthew McConaughey) is not easy to deconstruct or simplify. And this wild ride deserves a character so rich and three dimensional. Similar to Steven Knight's Serenity- McConaughey's previous film- the film is jarringly fascinating enough to lure you in for a deep dive, no matter how banal things turn out to be later, for a brief period it will show you something that not ordinarily films does.

And this also could have easily been its downfall, since the storytelling is high all the time, it could be difficult for the makers to create an arc on a dramatic point that is actually the peak of the film. Fortunately, the writer-director Harmony Korine has smartly invested a vivid and eerie empathy in Moondog for us to vote for him effervescently among the contenders given to us. This longingly hilarious cloak that McConaughey has been dying to put on in his acting career is foliated with a broad smile in his face, smooth voice and flamboyant body language throughout the film.

The supporting characters like Snoop Dogg and Isla Fisher have funny gags to invest while Jonah Hill, despite of sharing a few laughs, gets a more pragmatic character to play- of course compared to these non-sober personalities. In fact, the first act of the film, where the characters are introduced and equation formed with the Moondog, all these first visits remains the highlight of the film. The Beach Bum is confined in an impenetrable cell and yet it never grows dark, justifiably pathos and one long drag, but never cringingly dark, and no, the light whimsical background score has got nothing to do with it.