Review of This Must Be the Place (2011) by Caroline B — 30 Nov 2012

Sadly, I don't think a lot of people will get this movie right now. Maybe if you have been raised on a healthy diet of 70's New Hollywood or appreciate the Hippie Western you may find yourself falling in love with this movie as I did. But I also completely understand if someone thinks this film is the bunk.

The problem is that this is a time capsule picture. It very much captures what it is like to exist at this point in America's history and to many people that are currently living in it, that can seem boring or at least stupid.

However, to me, it is a beautiful commentary on our disconnectedness from history and ultimately ourselves. As we each define ourselves by what we were, failing to look at what we are, we conversely try and deny what came before us, in an attempt to hold fast to who we're pretending to be.

Anyone who appreciates early Tim Burton will find this film has wonderful echos of Burton's early genius: its as if Edward Scissorhands goes off on Pee's Wee's Big Adventure, allowing us to view a cross section of America through the eyes of a displaced person. Rather than the smirky-ironic-Wes Anderson-Urban Outfitters-catalog kind of new directors we keep getting thrown at us as voices for our Hispster culture, here is a new director that has something to say and a beautiful way to say it.

Maybe in 15 years people will get it. But this film gave me hope for the future.