pattycakes_
Can turn naughty
What about you @Clinamenic? What didn't work?
Theyre his two bests
I personally like the subject matter and some of the history and seeing historical figures portrayed by cool character actors and whatnot, but overall it seemed to lack interiority, aside from Robert Downey who I think maybe gave the best performance. Plus Benny Safdie was good too.What about you @Clinamenic? What didn't work?
Yeah and Inception I think is an example which ultimately works, even though he really spells it out for the audience. Plus as usual there are prior inspirations (e.g. Paprika) and source material and whatnot, but overall I thought Inception was clever and well-executed. That and Interstellar are my favorite films of his.Contrived is the word.
Nolan is always trying so hard to be clever. Sometimes he hits it, many times he ham fists it.
concerning interiority, i think a part of the point with the film was how dubious and indecisive oppenheimer was with his own beliefs and handling of all the public prominence that came with his accomplishments. like rdj said, while he had some remorse and wariness in the film, he never once said he regretted the m project. through how he is battered in the court at the end, and the various interactions with people of different military and political paths, he has no real non scientific stances. its like safdie says in the court scene, how he felt oppy was confused with his own beliefs. hes not a character hes a real person, and he made his own arc. i think itd come out quite tedious if it were multiple parts, the fast paced still kept a great focus on the larger themeI personally like the subject matter and some of the history and seeing historical figures portrayed by cool character actors and whatnot, but overall it seemed to lack interiority, aside from Robert Downey who I think maybe gave the best performance. Plus Benny Safdie was good too.
So the lack of interiority (i.e. we don't really get into Oppenheimer's head, despite the 3 hour film being being about him), plus a lot of the sequences felt like Nolan shoehorning content into the film which he presumably thinks is important but which just came out a bit contrived (jean tatlock making him read bhagavad gita during sex, the poison apple scene, etc).
Also, the pacing made it feel like one extended trailer for itself, maybe with the exception of the trial scenes at the end. This also I think has to do with the constantly tense score, plus the lack of interiority made it tough for there to be a character arc for Oppenheimer. Its clear in the film that his mind changed regarding the rationale for developing the bomb, and how he handled comms around communist associations, etc, but again the lack of interiority made this development seem one-dimensional to me.
Its definitely a fantastic production, and Cillian Murphy did as well as I think the film could have let him. And its very rare I'm this critical about movies, but I thought this one could have been so much more. Might have been better as a two-part or three-part thing like Dune, not sure.
Fair points, and I think if it was intentional to either not let the audience inside his head, or if he simply lacked that sort of emotional interiority to begin with (which is plausible), it kinda makes sense why the emotional trajectory of the film was so dominated by the score, i.e. the film needed some "extrinsic" factors to guide the emotions of the viewers, beyond just the portentousness of the subject matter.concerning interiority, i think a part of the point with the film was how dubious and indecisive oppenheimer was with his own beliefs and handling of all the public prominence that came with his accomplishments. like rdj said, while he had some remorse and wariness in the film, he never once said he regretted the m project. through how he is battered in the court at the end, and the various interactions with people of different military and political paths, he has no real non scientific stances. its like safdie says in the court scene, how he felt oppy was confused with his own beliefs. hes not a character hes a real person, and he made his own arc. i think itd come out quite tedious if it were multiple parts, the fast paced still kept a great focus on the larger theme
Ya the general sonics of both tenet and oppy are often derided but theyre an essential part of what makes them good. All the overlapping sounds in Oppenheimer was like ASMR in an aircraft hangari found the score, as well as tenet's score, to be the best of any nolan film. this new guy he is working with is brilliant
oppenheimer also has 2 tarkovsky references which just thrill me as a tark enthusiast. makes sense linebaugh is in agreement with me on oppy with him partly introducing me to tark