This is the year 1830 A young cadet was found hanged on the snowy New York campus of the United States Military Academy. The coroner and others will eventually discover that the man’s heart has been stolen from his chest and a part of the note, which has yet to be deciphered, is hidden and held in the dead man’s tight grip. Don’t worry: Christian Bale is on the case. pale blue eyes Starring Bell as Detective Augustus Lander, a kind of man whose reputation (dead wife, missing daughter, alcoholism and great detective skills) presents him like a ghost. This means he is perfect for the job: he has nobody and nothing to lose. And he’s seen enough death, one assumes that the sanctity of the effort, where the body count would be certain, might not reach him.
The curveball that pale blue eyes Lander’s path is not so much because of the central mystery, even as the affair develops into involvement in demonic rituals, dead animals and emotionally rich people. This stuff proves oddly uninteresting. Well there’s the cadet who finds Landor late at night in a bar, pulls him aside and says, “The man you’re looking for”—dramatic pause—“Yo. the poet“How do you know this guy? He’s also a poet. He’s apparently Edgar Allan Poe.”
This name has no meaning for Lander. But of course it means something to us. pale blue eyes, written and directed by Scott Cooper and based on the 2003 Louis Byrd novel of the same name, is only ostensibly a film about a mystery. In fact, this is a film that centers somewhat on the eccentricity of the poet, who is only hired at Lander’s company, primarily, for his gothic instincts. Well, and perhaps to the delight of his high-falutin drivel, the general Old South essence of his company, which stands out as an outsider in the Hudson Valley and thus makes him a target among his peers. . Poe, played by the delightfully eccentric Harry Melling, is a painfully romantic, unassuming looker who talks a lot, is passionate about poetry and is game to plunge into the mysteries of this story.
The film boasts an extensive cast, from Timothy Spall and Gillian Anderson to Charlotte Gainsbourg, Tobey Jones and Simon McBurney. But it’s Melling who stands out, because he has to. If he weren’t Edgar Allan Poe, he’d look like a plant: a character whose weirdness is meant to attract our suspicion, pulling strings in favor of a brighter crack that goes somewhere in the shadows. but because He is Edgar Allan Poe, we know very well: this is the man who still wrote (and recited, to a woman he loved) “The Raven” – which the film gives him the opportunity to do. that one romantic, not the killer. So it’s up to the rest of this terrifying set to drive our minds, a task they hardly do, in a film that doesn’t always seem sure how or if it’s meant to please us. pale blue eyes It is heavy, and not always in her favor. Its cheesiness, meant to come across as a good-looking take on American Gothic, gets in the way of its juicier, weirder bits. The crime is that it does so in the service of a mystery that has little significance. Even the characters at the end feel like they’re just putting up with it.
Bell and Cooper work well together. The actor played at Coopers out of the house (2013) and the enemies (2017). The category is: “Titempo Macho.” Cooper spent several years as a working actor before turning to screen directing and – no surprise – is great with actors. It is his first guide crazy heartwhich won Jeff Bridges a late-career Oscar, and his recent work, such as the enemiesShowcase the fine skills of actors such as Rosamund Pike and Wes Studi. His films are more cohesive than the ins and outs and his stories for their acting muscle, and pale blue eyes No difference. The direction is strong and straightforward for the most part but for the feeling that the actors are given a good chance to be weird. The film is littered with small curiosities, almost none of which relate to the heart-stealing, devil-loving mystery of the central story, and almost all of which are due to the actors: from Melling’s strange bravery (who even inspires. Bells Lander To step back and admire)) Timothy Spall’s dogged insistence and Gillian Anderson’s towering arrogance that bring her a sense of superiority to this role as she had to meet Thatcher. the crown – Just make it the 19th century, and things got worse.
Kristen Bell and Harry Melling pale blue eyes
Netflix
As a barmaid who is also Lander’s lover and confidant, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s Patsy might be the most normal person here. Surprisingly, she is one of the most underused members of the cast. It’s almost too bad – she’s so interesting, you want her to insert herself into the story, betray someone, liven things up. red blue eyes, with its stark, snowy landscapes and shadowy interiors, can feel like a mood in search of a better story. For a film full of secrets, there’s a lot of it to die for, as there’s no point in getting too excited about the truth that will eventually be conclusive. Bell is the troubled spirit that holds the center, and the wide cast of West Point cadets—some of them clearly up to no good—makes ample contrast in the margins. It’s a bunch in the service of a story that’s only barely satisfying when it finally decides to tie up loose ends. The real joy, it turns out, was always for the strange people we met along the way.
Which makes Bell a necessary counterpoint. He has pain, but not extremes, at least not in this role. His wayward detective isn’t committed enough to a job that pulls him out of his slump, giving him a chance to redeem himself. This movie is not about that. He is not a spy as a savior, nor is he really a man in need of saving, not really. The bull is somehow too even-keeled to be steeped in archaism. He brings to the role the way Lander seems, at first, to approach this crime: as a man on a job, maybe not much. As a true movie star, the kind of actor who’s watchable even when there’s no movie, Bell can do that and get away with it. What saves pale blue eyes From himself is how much he knows.
