Journal & Topics Media Group

Movie Scene: Lengthy ‘Goldfinch’ Short On Satisfaction


Nicole Kidman, Boyd Gaines and Oakes Fegley in “The Goldfinch”.

“The Goldfinch” (149 min, Rated R for violence, some bloody images, language and drug use). Rating: 4 out of 10.

“The Goldfinch” is considered to be an early entry into the awards derby that usually doesn’t heat up until late October-early November. It has “important” written all over it; an impressive cast, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, competent production crew…and long…149 minutes. “It Chapter Two” was even longer, but that’s for entirely different reasons.

Director John Crowley (“Brooklyn”) and screenwriter Peter Straughan have adapted an award-winning novel by Donna Tartt, “The Goldfinch,” a monstrous 800-page book focused on the difficult life of child, then adult Theo Decker, scarred for life by the sudden and tragic loss of his mother at age 13. It’s an extremely sad set of circumstances as to what happened — and it was only a miracle that the young lad even survived. You see, Theo and his mother were at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City when out of nowhere, a terrorist bomb explodes killing many of the patrons, including Theo’s mom. Theo somehow escaped with only minor cuts and bruises. A little girl his age also survived, but suffered severe head injuries. This girl, Pippa, figures significantly in Theo’s later life…as if fate should bring them together.

With his father MIA — a total loser who left his family years ago — the authorities ask a relation of the family to take Theo in. That would be Mrs. Barbour (Nicole Kidman), the matriarch of a rich, upper-class estate and her family. By this stage, it appears Theo is shell-shocked, saying little, showing little emotions, keeping to himself, etc. This outer personality frames Theo for the rest of entire film — even as an adult. Theo is played by Oakes Fegley as a child and Ansel Elgort as an adult. This non-expressiveness is aggravating because you just never quite figure out what’s going on inside this troubled character — and it is through him, as presented in first-person in the book, that everything is conveyed.

The key element in the story is the significance of the “Goldfinch,” a small 11-inch x 14-inch original oil painting from 1654 by Dutch painter Carel Fabritius. With many of the famous paintings destroyed in the explosion, as the dust settled and before the first-responders arrived, Theo grabs the unaffected painting — a miracle it was not damaged — laying in the rubble, and smuggles it out with him. From that point on, knowing its incredible importance and value in the world of classical art, he takes it with him everywhere he goes…not breathing a word to anyone. It’s at this point, about a third of the way through the film, that this is going to be an episodic chronicle of Theo’s ups-and-downs, hills-and-valleys through his beleaguered life. It starts with Mrs. Barbour, who truly adores him, then with his washed-up actor father (Luke Wilson), who pops up out of nowhere to gain custody, along with his gum-chewing, vulgar lady friend (Sarah Paulson), and ultimately with Hobie (Jeffrey Wright), an antique furniture shop owner who befriends the child — even takes him in. It is Hobie that provides Theo with the most stable environment — none of them knowing the prize possession he has kept hidden all these years.

And then Theo grows up (Elgort), still aloof and distancing, non-communicative on just what’s going inside him, becomes a business rep for Hobie’s line of work, learning the antiques field, but resorting heavily on drugs to get by. It’s a nasty habit he picked up as a kid from fellow classmate, Boris (Finn Wolfhard as a child), a tall, skinny geeky Russian-speaking street kid whose only aspirations seem to be fleecing people and leading a life of larceny. He may be a bad influence on Theo as a child, introducing to many vices that will travel with him, like smoking and taking drugs, but turns into a blessing in disguise when after a long separation, they bump into each other as adults. And it has to do with that valuable, missing piece of artwork.

If this al sounds incidental and boring, you’re right. At 149-minutes and never really establishing a consistent tone in its narrative, other than suffering, and too much time-jumping, the story drags on never achieving its goals. Theo never had a traditional upbringing, no parental guidance — and it shows. He has no moral center, no ambition…simply going through the motions. It is Hobie that is able to provide the lad with some balance and stability. It is Boris’s influence that has the most profound affect on him, turning him into a drug addict with no real love life, saddles as an adult to a woman who cheats on him. His real love is the girl that survived the blast, Pippa (Ashleigh Cummings). But that supposed attraction never gels or goes anywhere.

“The Goldfinch” is a tale of tragic fate between a child and a famous painting that inexorably coexists with Theo living a tortured past, never grasping true meaning in his life. The hidden painting is his metaphor in life, not seen and misunderstood — and serves as the moral rudder on life. The story just never seems to connect, needing its source material as a roadmap to gain insights into the heart and mind of this lost soul. We pity him for his demons, but his introversions and internalized pain makes it difficult.

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