[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by TrueFaith77

THE GOLDFINCH
Grade: C-

Through twists of Dickensian fate and sentiment, John Crowley sneakily reduces terrorist attacks to “some people did something” with THE GOLDFINCH

Survivor’s guilt remains (the plot-twist switcharoo on “It was all my fault”).

And bourgeois fortune favors the guilt-ridden.

The Nevada section, the Dickensian rock bottom, bookended by New Order’s “Your Silent Face” and Them’s cover of Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” is the best part of the film. Yet it, too, plays an insidious bait-and-switch. It teases adolescent same-sex sympathy as attraction, only to later be revealed as betrayal (and guilt heaped upon guilt). In this way, it accidentally exposes the perverse appeal of the vile IT films.

As with Crowley’s subtly anti-Catholic BROOKLYN, THE GOLDFINCH is gorgeously mounted (Deakins!), the cast is excellent (Nicole Kidman has never looked more beautiful), and the time-jumping narrative moves fluidly.

It would be dangerous stuff if anyone cared, which, as with the far more satisfying BROOKLYN, nobody will.

I couldn’t finish the book. The way it was written bothered me.