Review of This Must Be the Place (2011) by Phantasm G — 16 Mar 2013
Sean Penn. Sean Penn playing a middle-aged Goth rocker a la Robert Smith of The Cure, big hair and all. Sean Penn playing a middle-aged Goth rocker searching for the Nazi who tortured his now deceased father.
It sounds ridiculous no matter how you say it. But it didn't have to be. Unfortunately, it is. In This Must Be The Place, Penn, decked out in a terrible wig, is the aforementioned rock star, Cheyenne, who returns home from Dublin to find the man who humiliated his father during WWII.
It's not that I can't tell you more, it's just that I don't care. The film is atrocious, and takes down not one, but two Oscar winners (Frances McDormand what were you thinking). Director Paolo Sorrentino annoyingly conflates quirkiness with substance, and the effect is clumsy.
Penn, a two-time Oscar winner, is a terrific actor, a risk-taking actor, and this is a risk. It's a high wire act, and Penn falls flat on his ass. It doesn't help that he talks in this irritating whisper.
This Must Be The Place, it's title taken from a Talking Heads song, gives indie filmmaking a bad name. Skip it.
This review of This Must Be the Place (2011) was written by Phantasm G on 16 Mar 2013.
This Must Be the Place has generally received positive reviews.
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