The Goldfinch (2019)

[Robert Lynch]

Quote

Based on the novel by Donna Tarft, a boy is taken in by a wealthy Upper East family after his mother was killed by a bombing at the Met.

Anybody read this book? I heard it is like 900 pages.

Edited July 25, 2019 by Robert Lynch

[BigBlueMastiff]

The book was good, but I prefer her first novel, The Secret History.

[Yokosmom]

The book was great, though it really dragged in the middle section.  So many locations--uptown and downtown Manhattan, Vegas, Amsterdam...Trailer looks good.

[Robert Lynch]

That Russian accent on Finn...oh, boy! 

Well, at least he did something daring for a change. 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Robert Lynch

[PaulaO]

The Goldfinch was an excellent book.  I loved it and spent a weekend binge reading.  Yet I have no desire to see this movie because it won’t be what I picture it.  I also love Tartt’s book The Secret History.

[Megan]

I had while reading, pictured Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Hobie but Jeffrey Wright is just as good, maybe better.

Aneurin Barnard is cast well.

I will also say. I did not like the book, or maybe it's more that it made me uncomfortable and I disliked everyone but Hobie.

Edited August 18, 2019 by Megan

[Robert Lynch]

I am reading this as we speak. God, it is a very difficult book to get into, but I'll try.

[Haleth]

I thought the book was about 100 pages too long, but I'll watch this when it shows up on tv.  Only because I love Jeffrey Wright and Hobie.

[Robert Lynch]

The reviews are in and they appeared too negative so far....

Edited September 11, 2019 by Robert Lynch

[BigBlueMastiff]

On 7/25/2019 at 10:02 AM, BigBlueMastiff said:

The book was okay, but very hard to get through. I prefer her first novel, The Secret History. I love J. Wright, but Ansel and Nicole make it a no go, until it shows up on one of my streaming services. I really don't get the fascination with Ansel, so many better actors out there than him, he is so bland and boring.

[Robert Lynch]

6 hours ago, BigBlueMastiff said:

On 7/25/2019 at 11:02 AM, BigBlueMastiff said:

The book was okay, but very hard to get through. I prefer her first novel, The Secret History. I love J. Wright, but Ansel and Nicole make it a no go, until it shows up on one of my streaming services. I really don't get the fascination with Ansel, so many better actors out there than him, he is so bland and boring.

I am sure Jeffrey Wright is going be the only one worth watching. I am pretty sure every reviewer is going to praise his performance. They might not like the movie, but Jeffrey Wright was always good, no mater what. Not sure of Finn Wolfhard's or Ansel Elgort's performances. Nicole Kidman was always iffy to me. Sometimes she is good, but other times she is dreadful. Sarah Paulson annoys me because her performance is so similiar to her AHS characters: bemused or intrigued. Yeah, I'll wait for it to stream.

Edited September 11, 2019 by Robert Lynch

[Robert Lynch]

Goldfinch bombs hard at US box opening

[Dr.OO7]

On 7/25/2019 at 7:21 AM, Robert Lynch said:

I heard it is like 900 pages

As is the movie.

I just saw it and I'm still not sure if it's finished because there were so many times I thought it was, only for it to keep going. Yeesh.

That said, it wasn't bad, per se, just insanely long.

I'm so glad that his mother had the sense to stipulate that her money only be sent to whatever school in question. She must have known his father would try to steal it.

[Haleth]

14 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

Goldfinch bombs hard at US box opening

That is disappointing.  There is still a great movie in the pages of the book.

[Robert Lynch]

How was Finn Wolfhard as Young Boris?

[tres bien]

Given the complexity of the story, I thought it was well done.  I balked at the idea of sitting through a two and half hour movie, but it moved along quickly.  I loved the book and went to see it with someone who had not read it (and I thought would sleep through the movie) but that was not the case.  He liked it.

38 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

How was Finn Wolfhard as Young Boris?

I've never seen him in anything before this movie, so all I can say is that I think he was quite good.

[AimingforYoko]

Well, this was definitely an A-List Movie.

This movie made me sad, not just because there were good performances in search of a better movie, but also thinking how perfect Anton Yelchin would've been as adult Boris.

[Robert Lynch]

21 hours ago, tres bien said:

Given the complexity of the story, I thought it was well done.  I balked at the idea of sitting through a two and half hour movie, but it moved along quickly.  I loved the book and went to see it with someone who had not read it (and I thought would sleep through the movie) but that was not the case.  He liked it.

I've never seen him in anything before this movie, so all I can say is that I think he was quite good.

That's good to know. I think it is cool Finn wants to expand other roles to further his career. He seem to be going other places.

[Black Knight]

I saw this over the weekend. I loved the book and thought the filmmakers did a good job adapting it. I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but as a reader of the book, I knew what to expect. I'd say that if you liked/loved the book, you'll enjoy the film, and if you didn't like the book, you'll definitely want to stay away. Also, I think it helps to have read the book. The movie isn't confusing per se, but knowing the details of the book help deepen the movie experience.

The only critique I would make of the film is that I didn't really care for the filmmakers' choice to have Theo's mother only appear at the end. I understand that they were playing off what Theo said about not being able to see his mother to set up the payoff at the end. But the opening sequence of the book gives you such a strong sense of who the mother was and what her relationship with Theo was like, and I think that's important for really understanding exactly how the loss of her affects Theo. Also, it explains Theo's interest in art, whereas in the movie you don't learn until the end how knowledgeable Theo's mother was about art and how she educated her son on the subject.

Of course we all understand that the loss of a mother is a major event for a child, but by not knowing anything about Theo's mother or her relationship with her son, it's a very generic thing in the film. She's this insubstantial, enigmatic presence. It goes against everything Tartt does in the novel; she's all about specificity and detail. (Some would say too much so - it's certainly not to everyone's taste.) Maybe the screenwriters wanted that to be a mystery throughout the film until the end, but I don't think it adds anything to have it be a mystery.

Also I quite enjoyed Finn Wolfhard (who's growing up to be quite a looker) and the actor who played the adult Boris. I enjoyed all the actors, but Boris is the showiest role, and a tricky part in that in the wrong hands he could be quite irritating.

[Robert Lynch]

I have been hearing a lot of positive praise from Finn's performance, including from a bunch of negative reviews about Goldfinch. I hope for a great career for him. Good thing for expanding other roles besides the typical horror/ Sci-Fi trope which plagues actors in the coming years. In reality, he could play a vampire and no makeup is required. He could probably play Armand from the Vampire Chronicles. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I tried reading the book and could not get through it. But I really liked  the movie. Watched it on demand. It’s a very good story with interesting well developed themes about fate.