Review of The Belly of an Architect (1987) by Jon P — 29 May 2015
Peter Greenaway's artistic background reveals itself frame after frame in this taxing tragic drama. However, Greenaway's film isn't half as profound as the Roman legends it strives to revere in its shoddy screenplay.
The film charts the neo-classical decline of obsessive architect, Brian Dennehy, mimicking the mopey hypochondria of the very master he's studying. Trouble is, not only is soppy Dennehy hard to take seriously, (with his fuzzy frowns and striking resemblance to Troll 2's Grandpa Seth), but Greenaway's casting-to-character-age ratio is horrendous, and his script is 80% age-gags and adultery. As you can imagine, this combined with atrocious acting is not ideal in a relationship drama which requires complete belief in its characters in order to work.
The Belly of An Architect is a pretty picture of a movie; a real pretty picture. But no level of beauty can mask the fact that it features some of the worst flirting and faffing in the history of film. Poop with a painted gold coating; let's hope the lady playing Dennehy's 'much younger' missus was an unpaid intern.
This review of The Belly of an Architect (1987) was written by Jon P on 29 May 2015.
The Belly of an Architect has generally received positive reviews.
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