Hollywoodland

[lurkerwithout]

I really like the acting in this. Affleck, Brody, Lane, Tunney. All very good. And the basic underlying story is also good. An investigation into the suicide of George Reeves. I'm just not sure that the set-up works. Interspersing Simo (Brody)'s investigation with Reeves' story is a standard noir movie trick. But normally there is a framing device used to show WHY the two stories are running together. Interviewing people. A journal. Something. Here it the two stories suffer from feeling disconnected...

Comments

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

I liked this movie, despite the "disconnect" that you mention. I vaguely remember hearing that in the original script Simo's background mirrored Reeves' in a number of ways, and it was Simo's sympathy for Reeves which spurred him on.

I later read an article written by the author of one of the books that HOLLYWOODLAND was based on. The author was initially convinced that Reeves' had been murdered, but the deeper he dug the murkier things got. Simo's investigation in the movie pretty much uncovers the same facts that the author uncovered in the real world, in the order that the author found them. And you gotta admit -- while the framing sequence itself may suffer from a "disconnect" from Reeves' life, telling Reeves' story in that sequence leads to some extremely tense drama.

So, yeah -- there was something of a disconnect between Simo's and Reeves' lives... but in the end, I greatly enjoyed it.

[the-outlaw.livejournal.com]

This was the best acting Ben Affleck had given in YEARS. I was very happy with him. Same with Diane Lane. I don't normally like her, but she totally disappeared into the role. I liked the movie through the first murder scenario. But that scenario was so convincing that when they continued on to all the others, they didn't seem nearly as reasonable and I was wondering why anyone would give them equal weight. I think I would have liked it better if they guy had picked one and said "this is what happened!" Why did I watch that entire thing for a flat ending?