Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Oakes Fegley, Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Jeffrey Wright, Luke Wilson, Sarah Paulson, Willa Fitzgerald, Finn Wolfhard, Aneurin Barnard, Ashleigh Cummings, Aimee Laurence, Robert Joy, Boyd Gaines, Carley Connors, Hailey Wist, Denis O’Hare.
Obsession is often born out of desire to recapture something that was once lost, something precious that Time and circumstances dictated that we have taken, robbed, from us. We have it within us to use the idea of want as an excuse to see a painting, a book, a person, and wish to see it our purpose to own it or them, that we seek out the beautiful because we somehow believe it completes us, or at least makes us look different in the eyes of others as they see us with the object of our fascination and that of our preoccupation.
Obsession though is a dangerous passion, and even if the intent is noble, if the precuring of one item can hold onto the memory of what was lost for even a single second as you look upon it, then what remains is no longer the image of what was taken, and instead becomes a beating heart of something darker, of a stolen slice of time which can do nothing but corrode, decay, gather dust in a corner of a forgotten reason.
Based on the novel by Donna Taft, Peter Straughn’s screenplay for the intentionally provocative and heart-wrenching The Goldfinch, is one that frames the beast of obsession into more than just a cage, it dangles the key of freedom unfailingly on the viewer’s own responses, and watches as it asks the question of how you would have handled the events that shaped Theo Decker’s life.
From the glances of regret and her own obsession of replacing her own forgotten torment, Nicole Kidman gives a fierce portrayal of fixation as the woman who takes in the young Theo, and one that is perfectly matched by all the main characters in the film. From Jeffrey Wright’s Hobie’s unparalleled fascination for restoring antiques, to Luke Wilson’s own dangerous mania for removing his son’s legacy and Wolf Finnhard’s brutal and polished passion to keep Theo by his side, all is caged, hidden away and allowed to surface only as the dust of their respective interactions with the budding antiques dealer requires their own view on what lays inside the caged mind.
The film itself is one that offers damnation and hope in equal spirit, Oakes Fegley’s performance as the young Theo is exceptional, carrying a depth of despair throughout that acknowledges his own part in his downfall to great acclaim, and one that gives the entire story the courage to maintain strength and vision where others would undoubtedly allow themselves to wander from the point.
The Goldfinch is beautifully structured, filled with a voice that sings of resolution and lost ideals; a film you can’t help but occupying yourself with completely.
Ian D. Hall