World Premiere at 2017 Venice film festival.
George Clooney has outdone himself with a superb satire of middle American suburbia in 1959. But there are résonances of relevance to the America of today as well. Matt Damon, all but unrecognizable except for the nose, disappears into the skin of a pudgy middle class middle American psychopath on a murderous death insurance scam with sister-in-law Julianne Moore, true to life as ever as his partner in crime. Best scene of many good ones cleverly linked together is the unwelcome visit of scumbag insurance claim adjuster Oscar Isaac (the Armenian hero of The Promise) "sniffing out" improprieties in the claim on deceased sister who was actually murdered before the film began. Sparkling dialogue between Isaac and Moore and the subtle gathering of tension building to a blowup make this the most memorable single scene in this spine tingling thriller. An ongoing subtext of the film is the rampant racism of the local populace when a nice middle class Afro-American family moves in to this lily white community. Kudos also to juvenile actor Noah Jupe as the terrorized child who is a pawn in all the complex familial machinations after his mother is snuffed and a central figure of the intrigue. Coen Brothers collaboration on the script may account for some of the hairiness and over-the-topness of the action but, overall Suburbicon is an absolute winner all around that transports Mr. Clooney to the next level of savvy film directorship. Bravo. PS: Beefed up bespectacled Matt Damon may be heading for another Oscar nomination with this radical departure from his hitherto clean scrubbed heroic images.
George Clooney has outdone himself with a superb satire of middle American suburbia in 1959. But there are résonances of relevance to the America of today as well. Matt Damon, all but unrecognizable except for the nose, disappears into the skin of a pudgy middle class middle American psychopath on a murderous death insurance scam with sister-in-law Julianne Moore, true to life as ever as his partner in crime. Best scene of many good ones cleverly linked together is the unwelcome visit of scumbag insurance claim adjuster Oscar Isaac (the Armenian hero of The Promise) "sniffing out" improprieties in the claim on deceased sister who was actually murdered before the film began. Sparkling dialogue between Isaac and Moore and the subtle gathering of tension building to a blowup make this the most memorable single scene in this spine tingling thriller. An ongoing subtext of the film is the rampant racism of the local populace when a nice middle class Afro-American family moves in to this lily white community. Kudos also to juvenile actor Noah Jupe as the terrorized child who is a pawn in all the complex familial machinations after his mother is snuffed and a central figure of the intrigue. Coen Brothers collaboration on the script may account for some of the hairiness and over-the-topness of the action but, overall Suburbicon is an absolute winner all around that transports Mr. Clooney to the next level of savvy film directorship. Bravo. PS: Beefed up bespectacled Matt Damon may be heading for another Oscar nomination with this radical departure from his hitherto clean scrubbed heroic images.