Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
Recently HBO’s documentary miniseries The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst from director Andrew Jarecki has met with no small acclaim, and its subject is finding himself the subject of even newer headlines. Jarecki’s first attempt to tell Durst’s story was as the fictionalized adaptation All Good Things, and it was that film that led Durst to cooperate with Jarecki for The Jinx. Funny how things work sometimes.
Did you get a chance to watch along with us this week? Want to recommend a great (or not so great) film for the whole gang to cover? Comment below or post on our Facebook or hit us up on Twitter!
Next Week’s Pick: Honeymoon
We’re very much looking forward to catching Honeymoon, a 2014 horror-thriller starring Game Of Thrones‘ Rose Leslie as a newlywed experiencing some… interesting changes. Watch it on Netflix and send us your reviews!
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co!
The Team
Brendan:
Maybe my feelings on All Good Things would be different if I hadn’t seen (and loved) The Jinx. Maybe I would have been riveted by the story’s escalation, and maybe I would have been stuck in slack-jawed amazement at each brazen twist and turn.
But I did see (and love) The Jinx, and so this film could not help but feel like a “Great Illustrated Classics” version of the actual thing. And given how rapidly the film vanished from critical and public mind, I find it hard to believe that it is just my familiarity with the story and a superior telling of it that led to the lacking viewing experience.
Not that All Good Things is a bad movie, it’s just a half-baked one. Andrew Jarecki never cracked how to dramatize the events of Bob Durst’s life, and the result is an aggressively dour film that is never clear on what story it is telling. Characters appear and vanish with little fanfare, swallowed up by the faulty narrative structure (Dunst’s very strong work is a special victim), a structure that ends with a series of twists that are utterly asinine, given how unbelievable the true story already was. (@TheTrueBrendanF)
Austin:
I haven’t been keeping up with the Robert Durst drama just yet, but viewing this weird version of it certainly has me intrigued.
I watched this with a certain personal interest because the story has echoes of another true crime case that I’ve been researching and mulling an adaption of for several years, and for that reason I’m always intrigued by how filmmakers try to pull off villains as protagonists, or at least as their main characters.
Also: There’s a clean-shaven Nick Offerman, but by the end of the movie he’s got a big mustache. In a relatively joyless film, this is a rare ray of heavenly light. (@VforVashaw)
Liam:
When this film came out I was amazed that it was based in any way off of a true story. Surely a true story would not have as many strange twists and turns. Now that I have seen The Jinx and subsequently read about the case myself, I am amazed not only at how much of the movie is true, but at what elements are fictionalized. Nothing too scandalous, a few things here and there to move the story along, some conjecture on elements that are unclear in the official account. Yet, despite the lack of sensationalism in the realm of fiction, All Good Things feels far more grimy than the mini-series exploring the facts of the story. Why is that? I am not sure what it is about this film, it has many people I love, including some comedic actors pulling admirable dramatic work. It tells a story I am now familiar with. Somehow though this is as gross to me now as it was when it came out, a thriller with little life or humanity or suspense. Watching it somehow combines both boredom and a slight sense of seeing something unpleasant. (@liamrulz)
Ed:
Impossible to view apart from its more singular cousin and cultural touchstone, The Jinx, viewing a fictionalized account of Robert Durst’s life (and likely his various murders) directed by Andrew Jarecki was occasionally superfluous after learning so much about the case from The Jinx and noting a sense of inevitability about proceedings. But, most especially in what seem to be the historical embellishments of All Good Things, I found myself more engaged than I might have expected. Durst himself is not romantic or charming or likeable in really any way, but Ryan Gosling playing a fictionalized version of him was interesting in that it makes us want to relate to him. I perpetually undervalue Kirsten Dunst and rarely think of her as an actress I particularly like… but here she adds a beating heart and a tragic and earnest presence to the film which is just about captivating. Surprise cast members like Philip Baker Hall, Kristin Wiig, and Nick Offerman also offered a fun distraction from the otherwise tragic thrust of the story. All Good Things doesn’t offer much that The Jinx doesn’t provide, but the cast and the interesting embellishments made it worth a view as a post-Jinx curiosity.
(@Ed_Travis)
Our Guest
Jaime Burchardt:
I wasn’t aware of the existence of Robert Durst until about a week ago, when the finale of The Jinx aired (thank you Twitter explosions). It went from Limp Bizkit jokes to the seriousness of what this loon had done. All Good Things was a movie that caught my interest years ago, and then said interest peaked. It works, for the most part. If anything, this is a showcase for two exquisite performances, given by Gosling and Dunst. You want to see what these two can be capable of? Then see this without hesitation. The rest of the elements are by the number. It’s got a sound script, good cinematography; if anything the score & music selections are all over the place. Overall, it’s a moderate-level thriller that would fit right at home on HBO around 2 am. You know what’s more fascinating, though? The behind-the-scenes of this film. From Durst spying on the shoot to Durst basically roping director Andrew Jarecki into his life, which inspired The Jinx. Truth; stranger than fiction, and in this case, it’s a bit more interesting. Now, off I go to HBO. (@jaimeburchardt)
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