Review of The Goldfinch (2019) by Jluis_001 — 01 Dec 2019

They had a good novel, a decent director, a notable cast (with the exception of Ansel Elgort) And yet everything went wrong.

When I first read The Goldfinch a few years ago at the beginning it was hard for me to get into the novel. It took me about 200 pages to get really involved but after that I really enjoyed the book although my favorite book by Donna Tartt is still The Secret History.

When I learned about the adaptation, I was excited, but at the same time it made me think a lot, after all, despite the passage of time in the story of the book, the narrative is very linear.

That's why an adaptation could be complicated and this film demonstrates it because despite being a faithful adaptation it cannot help feeling incredibly inert and boring.

Did it fail to capture the magic of the book? I would hardly say that it's magic but certainly it failed to capture the soul of the story.

The biggest mistake? The disconnection of the times and the narratives. The edition divides the story in a way that doesn't help at all and prevents you from having any connection to the material at all times.

And I must add that the movie fails to provide you with an interesting main character and that's a very serious problem because Theo in the book is all you have. He's your narrator, here he's nothing but a poor person's excuse.

Ansel Elgort is not up to the role at any time and it's not that Theo is a complicated character but it does have many other nuances that Elgort simply fails to channel. A real disappointment.

The Goldfinch is the kind of sober adaptation that made a respectable production full of quality but that completely lacks life and when that fails, then no matter how much it tries it will also fail to get what's necessary to create and leave an impression.

A shame.