I saw ‘The Goldfinch’ Yesterday. Had mixed feelings. It is a wonderful story but the adaptation of the novel (I have not read it) needed to be better. It is bogged down by slow pace, too many characters, being too faithful to the book, and losing the intensity as a result. 7/10.
This is the story of 13 year old Theo who loses his mother in a terrorist attack at the metropolitan museum, and finds a famous painting ‘The Goldfinch’. He has nightmares about the blast. He blames himself for his mother’s death, and goes through one tragic situation to the next, through his adulthood. He makes some friends along the way.
On the positive side, it is very well acted, particularly by Nicole Kidman (no surprise), young actor Oakes Feadle who plays the young Theo. Great talent. Ansel Elgort (adult Theo) and Jeffrey Wright (from the Hunger Games series) as his mentor/friend are also very good. I would love to see Nicole and Oakes get best supporting actor Oscar nominations for their marvelous works.
For Theo’s Ukrainian friend Boris (young and adult), why couldn’t they find Eastern European actors? They were both miscast. The actors are British and Canadian and they couldn’t really portray the character effectively. The accent was terrible. JMO. Other castings were ok, though I would have liked the adult Pippa to look younger- same age as Theo/Ansel. It may be a minor point though.
The flashbacks told the story through the eyes of Theo (boy and young adult), and were well connected. Young Theo had more screen time but I didn’t mind it.
Since I had not read the book, I had no idea how the story will end. That made it interesting to me. Overall I liked it, despite the flaws.
I really want to read the book now.
At least we will get to see the trilogy completed.
Yep.
