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Soul (2020)
6/10
Commensurate with modern ideas of purpose and existence
8 January 2021
Following the success of Inside Out, Disney were in need of a new theme around which to base their next edutainment block-buster and someone apparently suggested existentialism.

It's a clever enough twist to use a word re-appropriated by Jazz musicians that had previously referred to a disembodied essence to bring some cool to an otherwise nebulous subject matter but the film fell short of even presenting a concise explanation of a single idea of the nature of a person and how they come into being.

There is a noteworthy disparity between a total avoidance by the filmmakers to look into the great beyond and some fairly extensive imagining of pre-incarnated existence, the latter being mainly a source of gags rather than a particularly serious effort but at the end of the 100 minutes I was left with an explanation that was commensurate with the modern ideas of purpose and an all too familiar hole where the justification should be.
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A Hidden Life (2019)
8/10
Yearning for a true people of faith
1 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
What seemed to be shaping up as a fairly shallow portrayal of the faith that leads a saint through suffering and ultimately martyrdom, something akin to the shortcomings of Silence (2016), the film turned out to portray the growth of a substantial faith from an initial relatively unexplained crude sense of conviction.

The increasing interspersing of scriptures seemed to fall short of the depth of the surpassing power of the gospel in the face of great darkness but that seemed to reflect the reality of a people whose shepherds were no more effectual in caring for the flock than the Pharisees of Christ's day.

I found myself yearning to whisper to Franz and Fani glorious truths to uphold them but I wasn't there and neither was the church in its intended glory.
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7/10
Would benefit from 15 years of reflection
24 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The simple repetition of the soundtrack running through sets the pace of the film nicely and though a moderate length film was made to feel quite long, the conclusion was well crafted and the character exploration engaging, particularly concerning those surrounding the protagonist.

The film was primarily let down by the acting of Elsa Zylberstein and Serge Hazanavicius. The latter's character felt over-exaggerated and his redemption cliché and uninspiring, whilst the former's acting lacked credibility, epitomised in the character's farcical rant (apparently of no real consequence) towards her students in the middle of the film.

The other element that felt lacking was a more substantial exploration of the impact of long term imprisonment. It felt as though we were expected to just accept that Juliette kept herself to herself and waited out the 15 years stoically and uneventfully.

Similarly, the film seemed to portray a rather straightforward upward trajectory for Juliette, who finds permanent employment, reunites with her sister's family, effortlessly endears herself to everyone she meets, finds a soul mate and ends up with an impressive apartment in the space of a few months.

On the key subject of the film, the reveal is clear from the moment the adverse medical results are found and Juliette's heartfelt explanation of her actions presents a predictable pro-euthanasia perspective, again suggesting that 15 years added little nuance to the character's view of her actions. One can only assume that the film's creators had not had such a period of enforced reflection on the alternative vantages.
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3/10
Halve the length and I might have kept the DVD
3 September 2020
Difficult to decide which was the most fundamental let down of this film. Candidates include the lacklustre reading of the original text, the paltry use thereof and the distortion of Kangaroo into an confused combination an anti-faith ideologue and an American conservative mother reminiscent of Reverend Lovejoy's wife, despite the original character representing a much broader nationalistic super-power attitude towards subjugated foreign nations.

More fundamental than any of these however was the tedious extension of back stories (particularly that of the mayor) and addition of sub plots that converted what could have been a highly re-watchable short akin to the 1986 animated version of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas!' into a painfully drawn out feature length that I can't banish from our children's film collection quick enough for fear of possibly having to watch it again.

The twists and turns of Horton's long (lifelong?) battle to give voice to the voiceless and defend the value of the disregarded makes for a plenty compelling narrative. Will stick to the book.
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