Review of The Great Beauty (2013) by Cameron J — 01 Mar 2014

Woah, hold on now, I don't know about "great", because this film isn't even close to an "8 1/2", if you will. ...Classic European art film buffs probably get that, and considering how lame it is, the dorks are probably the only ones who would find it amusing if they got it. Yeah, the joke there is that this film is almost unsubtly influenced by the 1963 Italian classic by Federico Fellini "8 1/2", and not that this film isn't even an "8 1/2", because, make no mistake, "8 1/2" is at least better than this. Yeah, let me cool my jets for a second, because I've got to emphasize that I'm not exactly crazy about "8 1/2" before I start sounding too pretentious, although it might not help, becuase it's hard to watch an art film like this and not look a little bit hipster. Those blasted Woody Allen glasses that Toni Servillo busts out from time to time don't exactly help, nor does the fact that this is a film by Paolo Sorrentino. I don't know about you guys, but this film is coming out a little too quickly after "This Must Be the Place" for me to come down from all of Sorrentino's Italian hipsterisms, and "This Must Be the Place" wasn't even in Italian, so strap in, folks, because things are about to get all kinds of snobby. Yeah, I'd be more cool with that if the film was even remotely close to as great as its title says it is, although I must give credit to the strengths... of which there are probably around "8 1/2" or something (I'll shut up now; well, after the following review).

It's debatable if this film is as beautifully shot as many are saying it is, because for me, Luca Bigazzi's cinematographic efforts are neither all that unique or all that consistent in high quality, although I feel that we can all agree that this film's visual style is mighty sharp through and through, rarely abating on sharp definition, and often nailing beautifully rich plays on bouncing coloration and piercing lighting over the lens of cameras that further draw you in with some stylish filming tricks, in addition to interesting images to capture. The film is pretty heavily driven by its visuals, and far too many of them are far too abstract for their own good, but more than that, they're pretty colorful, maybe not to where they can compensate for the entertainment value lost by all of the dully dry storytelling, but decidedly to where you get plenty of genuinely unique eye candy, polished by the fine visual style and sometimes actually pretty well-utilized by directorial highlights. Artistically overblown and, if you will, abstractionistically misguided, when not simply bone-dry, Paolo Sorrentino's directorial missteps are glaring and plentiful, but his strengths come in broad waves that help in washing the final product to the brink of decency, playing with the fine visual style and Lele Marchitelli's underused, but richly diverse, tastefully unique and all around remarkably haunting score with enough style and substance to legitimately entertain at times, perhaps even resonate. There's not much substance to draw on in this do-little art drama, but when there is, all of that subtle style and thoughtful storytelling that guide the final product into mediocrity under the weight of questionable overambition pay off, though not without the help of a pretty worthy cast. There's hardly enough material for the film itself to work with, nevermind the performers, who still play significant roles in almost saving the film, at least as decent, for most everyone has his or her own distinct brand of charisma, with leading man Toni Servillo's being particularly exuberant, broken up by some subtle layering that graces this not-so character-driven meditation with some sense of humanity. There's just not enough of this depth going around, and even within the underwritten Servillo, it's limited something fierce, yet whether it be found within the performances or whatever, it's there, and the die-hard patient seeking it may find enough to cling onto for the final product to evade mediocrity. For me, however, patience lasts for only so long before the final product falls more-or-less flat, having its share of intrigue, but losing too much in the way of engagement value through questionable pacing, alone.

It might be too soon to boast about the aspect that ultimately nudges the final product into mediocrity, but what ultimately breaks this questionably structured, but still very nearly decent misfire is, of course, the simple issue of dullness, for when Paolo Sorrentino runs out of material momentum to drive with thoughtful storytelling, near-painfully bland dry spells ensue and distance you too much from the bizarre aspects that could have perhaps been fun behind more lively storytelling, and make no bones about it, Sorrentino runs out of material a lot. All but flirting with the two-and-a-half mark with its running time, this film is just way too long, bloated with repetitious, maybe even monotonous meanderings in material and filler, and not even giving you the common courtesy of taking out nearly as much time as it probably should for the sake of exposition. To be so long, the film doesn't tell you a whole lot, at least about its characters, intentionally being more driven by unconventional narrative structuring than actual gradual characterization, sure, but still coming off as seriously undercooked even in its own minimalist context, to where you neither get a firm enough feel for the characters to get all that invested, nor get enough of a sense of progression for the focal shifts to feel organic. I don't know if there are that many focal layers to this, in many ways, downright unfocused mess, yet all of the subtle set pieces and other aspects that bloat the final product tend to jar you from narrative point to narrative point, and convolute things almost as much as inconsistencies in storytelling styles. I constantly badger this film for being too abstract for its own good, but this isn't something like "Upstream Color", being, as a matter of fact, rather unique in its alternations between traditionalist and offbeat storytelling, which I would be more willing to go with if the offbeat storytelling aspects didn't break a normal, actually focused structure so jarringly, and with an artistic license whose effectiveness quickly expires, due to its, quite frankly, being just too blasted bizarre. Loaded with random visuals and set pieces, only so many of which are actually grounded, much less relevant to substance, however thin it may be, this film, while not completely out there, is still pretty abstract, and it's only a matter of time before all of the abstractionism mixes with the frequently limp, undeveloped and incoherent storytelling and leaves the film to tumble out as essentially unfocused, with no much more than unfulfilled artistic ambitions that could have at least charmed the final product into decency if the filmmakers didn't feel kind of self-congratulatory in their misguided endeavors. I don't know if the film is out-and-out pretentious, but it certainly asks for more investment than it's willing to prove worthy of, being overblown with questionable artistic attributes and offbeat storytelling, and simultaneously lazy with other areas of storytelling, until the final product finds itself limping along, eventually collapsing, at least with good lucks and some effective moments, as, well, kind of mediocre.

In conclusion, lovely cinematography compliments colorful visuals, while directorial highlights and decent performances endear enough to bring the final product to the brink of decency, ultimately lost by the dulling atmospheric dry spells that give you too much of an opportunity to meditate upon the aimless dragging, underdevelopment, focal and stylistic unevenness, and unfocused abstractionism which, behind a somewhat pretentious feel to direction, render Paolo Sorrentino's "The Great Beauty" a great misfire in artistic ambition that, for all its strengths, falls flat.

2.25/5 - Mediocre.