Passion Review
RYAN: Passion stars Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace who are both former Sherlock Holmes damsels. It was written and directed by Brian De Palma and it jumps genres halfway through the movie, from a drama to a psychological thriller and I liked the first half much better.
CHUCK: It’s a bipolar movie.
RYAN: [laughs’ Seriously! It starts off as an office drama; they play cut-throat coworkers and then it turns a corner into a sick and twisty, Hitchcock type of movie.
CHUCK: I wouldn’t even put it in the same category as a Hitchcock.
RYAN: Well it’s nowhere near as good as Hitchcock; but that’s certainly the tone and vibe of the second half of the film.
CHUCK: It’s trying to be that but just isn’t.
RYAN: All of the spiral shots and the design and the twists…
CHUCK: But that’s very much the style of De Palma also – the split screen during the ballet scene is a good example.
RYAN: That ballet was so awkward!
CHUCK: Completely wacky.
RYAN: It’s confusing. There was no story in that moment and you don’t know which side of the screen to look at. It’s not Black Swan. Awful.
CHUCK: De Palma is very avante garde and it didn’t work at all in this one. It’s horrible. His past movies like Carrie, The Untouchables, Scarface, the first Mission: Impossible… he’s had some hits but is not on a winning streak lately. He also wrote this movie and he shouldn’t have.
RYAN: That is the biggest problem. The story is crazy. I like both actresses and it’s neat seeing them together. I love the design of the film – the scenic design and costumes and hair are all very high end and beautiful.
CHUCK: All very German.
RYAN: But that’s the best thing about this movie.
CHUCK: I’m amazed they were even able to get the talent to do this movie.
RYAN: Maybe the script read more interestingly than it played out.
CHUCK: It just had the feeling of, like, a five hour BBC miniseries edited down to 90 minutes. There were a lot of loose ends.
RYAN: It was truly confusing. Many elements you think you can predict turn out differently which is good but it goes too far off the deep end, you’re left questioning, “What the…” And it seems to have multiple endings where Noomi’s character keeps waking up from a dream. It was annoying.
CHUCK: I think the effect was you’re supposed to question what was reality versus happening in her head. In the end, you don’t care. Right now on Turner Classic Movies, they are doing Sunday Hitchcock marathons. If you wanna see good suspense and how movies should be crafted, watch one of those.
RYAN: Yeah. This movie has too many problems. It’s ok to be high-brow and confusing during a movie if it all comes together in the end and while I don’t have too many questions, it’s just ridiculous and the pacing was completely off.
CHUCK: The relationships were never explained very well.
RYAN: There was obviously a love triangle but it was not clearly defined. This movie is just so strange. I love the way great movies leave you feeling, but then contrariwise, when a movie is not good, like this one, you’re left with your head spinning.
