>>REVIEW
A GOOD YEAR
STARRING Russell Crowe, Marian Cotillard and Albert Finney
DIRECTED BY Ridley Scott
Opens Friday, November 10
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Walking into the theatre to see this film, I couldn’t help but think that Ridley Scott’s career had peaked almost a quarter century ago. I figured that this latest movie would be little more than a congenial attempt at pandering to the Academy with the chances of actually enjoying myself being slim to none. I left that very same theatre completely enthralled by the apparent powers of my own perception.
Alien and Blade Runner – both films of Scott’s – were groundbreaking cinematic classics due to an inventive use of high production values that incorporated a fantastic storyline with an understated darkness and depth of character. While there is no denying his steadfast ability to lens a picture, the majority of his films since then have lacked the underlying substance that so anchored these two early productions. The tragic irony being that more and more his films have begun to resemble the heartless studio butchering of Blade Runner he so vehemently opposed.
Unfortunately, A Good Year fits this mould. Shot on location in the vineyards of Southern France, the film boasts an intoxicating beauty of lush greeneries and comforting, well-worn cobblestone, but the tired, self-indulgent script, infected with awkward slapstick, is all too sobering and completely undeserving of the spirit of its location.
Russell Crowe is Max Skinner, a self-absorbed, London-based bonds trader empowered by a lust for wealth, not life. The death of his beloved uncle (a misused Albert Finney) leaves him heir to a potentially lucrative vineyard estate. It also happens to be a place filled with the memories of his childhood, which complicates his intentions of selling to the highest bidder. Also adding conflict is a beautiful and sassy waitress (Marion Cotillard) who just might be able to show him another side to life, and a mysterious American niece (Abbie Cornish) who could threaten his claim to the property, but just might reconnect him with his past. How lovely!
The story is riddled with inconsistencies I wish I had the space to acknowledge (what does it say about Cotillard’s character to fall so easily for a prick like Skinner?). What I would like to know is how a wealthy investment banker torn between lavish existences could be construed as an engaging central conflict?
A two-dimensional character study, this film has about as much chance of garnering Oscar buzz as a bloated, overzealous Roman gladiator romp. |
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