Suburbicon

George Clooney had a Coen script and he wanted to make a Coen film, yet somehow it just doesn't feel right, like he doesn't have the right guts, like he just wants to imitate. That seems like a shame to me. The setting is great, and the racist insert is excellent, but the main story just couldn't hold my attention. (02/13/2018)

If you were expecting something beyond a standard Coen brothers film, you might be disappointed. As a big fan of Coen-esque crime thrillers with a bitter twist, I was completely satisfied. Having watched a lot of Coen movies, I found some of the twists and turns in the story predictable, but I don't see that as a major downside. I enjoy this type of film, and this one was no exception. For me, Oscar Isaac stole the show. Despite his brief appearance, his scenes were the highlight of the entire film. Overall, I'm glad this forgotten 80s script by the Coen brothers was finally brought to life. (11/02/2017)

Following the example of Preston Sturges’s later work, Clooney attempts to reconcile two seemingly incompatible positions. He interweaves a very slowly escalating, darkly humorous (if you can laugh at the fact that someone drank coffee laced with lye), Coen-esque thriller about a crime that has gone awry (because the characters are mostly incompetent idiots) with a serious critique of racial intolerance. An African-American family terrorised by their white neighbours is rather left in the background of the narrative (we only know their last name and we almost never hear them speak), which seems to be the point of the film. The members of the majority are frustrated because of the problems they have brought on themselves (which overshadow the more serious problems of society as a whole) and are looking for someone to take their anger out on. Minorities are the first to be targeted. However, the film is quite clumsy in establishing causality between the two types of violence and turns to it relatively late (the closing dialogue does a lot to salvage the situation at the last moment). Furthermore, when we don’t yet know the characters’ true intentions at the beginning, we are led to sympathise with the same protagonists whom we will later despise, which in retrospect strikes me as mere screenwriting trickery that does not in any way help to convey the central idea. The choice of a child’s perspective also comes across as a half-baked idea that is not employed very consistently. Particularly the scenes from Nicky’s perspective heighten the feeling of danger, so that we vicariously experience what a black family goes through. I appreciate what Clooney is trying to say about the mood in today’s America (and not only there), as well as the fact that he didn’t choose the easiest path, but the result is noteworthy particularly for why and how it doesn’t work. 65% (11/08/2017)

If George Clooney had spent less of his time in cafes with crossword puzzles, smiling and sipping Dolce Gusto (as the advertising banners try to convince me he does), and instead buried himself under the duvet with the script and tried to make the narrative coherent, perhaps, then maybe at least every scene wouldn't look completely disconnected from the rest of the film and the mood wouldn't constantly shift from quirky comedy to historical indictment. Also, maybe the supporting characters wouldn't just be there for one scene and plots wouldn't get dropped before the characters are defined. Maybe Matt Damon could play something other than the character William H Macy played in Fargo, albeit in a different setting. And, most importantly, it wouldn't look like a hastily hashed together artistic riff on current issues in the US that, most importantly, needs to be finished as quickly as possible so it's still relevant by the time it hits theaters. Which is probably something, unfortunately, that nobody really had to worry about in the first place. But he didn't, that cafe-dwelling beatnik. Well, I hope he enjoys his coffee. (02/09/2018)

It's a shame that the creators didn't manage to liven up the film. Otherwise, it had a great retro vibe, typical Coenesque violence and black humor. They could have done much better. I got a bit bored in places and the incorporation of the black family's problems into the story seemed completely unnecessary. Apart from that, I was quite satisfied, and I had a decent laugh. (04/15/2018)