Blonde (Andrew Dominik)

Sad Professor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIsFywuZPoQ

I don't think there's a thread for this but so hard to be sure anymore. Let me know if there is.

JP Liz V1

Ana de Armas certainly have captured the essence of Marilyn, I like the black and white trailer, looks to be an Oscar contender if a cinema release is given

BruteStock

Yeah , Ill be watching that. The acting looks immense. Oscar winner Mark Rylance said he was inspired by Brad Pitts performance in Dominik's Jesse Jmaes

https://twitter.com/johnkellytweets/status/570359393310478337

Sad Professor

Some controversy has erupted over de Armas's accent in the trailer resulting in silly articles such as this

https://www.indiewire.com/2022/08/blonde-backlash-accent-hollywood-1234750773/

which seems to be trying to suggest that de Armas and/or Dominik deliberately decided to keep de Armas's cuban accent.

Of course in reality de Armas spent 9 months with a dialectic coach trying to perfect Monroe's accent.

Agent Coulson

Drops today.

Im really looking forward to watching this one.

johnny_ultimate

Pretty dire, unfortunately! Even amid the bad reviews, I’d hoped to like this: Andrew Dominik is an extremely talented chap; Ana de Armas is a pro and a star; and we need more ‘biopics’ (loosely used in this case) that are more about tone and vibe than simply recounting a life story or offering up a hagiography.

This at least looks impressive right out of the gate, and remains so for the most part (there are some terrible choices too, alluded to more below). Lots of thought has been put into channelling the look and feel of its eras, without being a mere pastiche or carbon copy. It’s a modern film with immaculate retro aesthetics.

But there’s not much more positive to say, alas - if only as much care and thought went in elsewhere! It’s a chore to watch: repetitive, shallow and one-note. There’s little pace or structure to speak of, just a 160 minute film without any proper shape or momentum. Yes, the film wallows in Monroe’s misery to quite a tedious and obnoxious extent, and emerges as an extraordinarily shallow take on her story (both real and fictionalised). But more baffling is how trite and cringey so much of it is. The endless ‘daddy’ mentions; the CG foetus; the - mortifyingly terrible - JFK scene. Some of these scenes are designed to provoke, but more than anything they’re so amateurish and ridiculous it makes the whole NC-17 controversy in the US seem laughable. Seriously, the JFK scene handles a grim sequence as if it’s a scene from The Naked Gun.

I wish there was something more here, but it’s a misfire. You’d be much better off watching Fire Walk With Me (a film that tackles some similar subject matter, just with real empathy towards its protagonist and clear-eyed direction) or one of Dominik’s own past features. Just a few months ago, he released a beautiful documentary / concert film that counts as one of the year’s best films. Now he’s balanced that out with one of the year’s most disappointing.

cezanne

I found it rather disturbing to be honest but I think thats what was intended.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119682474#Comment_119682474

Well it is based on a Joyce Carol Oates novel. That's kind of her entire shtick.

cezanne

My mother was a huge fan of marylin and shes in her70's now . I gave her netflix and put it on for her and she hated it said it was cruel & disturbing and it was not how she wished to remember her. So it will have fans in the younger generation who like dark bio pics but real fans of the real Marilyn wont like it.

Agent Coulson

Really disappointed with this as a whole and can completely understand why it is getting such negative reviews.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119686216#Comment_119686216

It's not a biopic and never claimed to be. It's based on a novel that's an openly fictionalised version of her life.