An average movie

Since it was the first movie directed by Jane Campion in more than a decade, I had some rather high expectations and I was really eager to check it out. Well, even though this movie did receive some stellar reviews (it was even hailed as the best movie released in 2021 by Indiewire), to be honest, I really struggled to connect with the damned thing. I mean, sure, it was very well made and some of the scenes were just gorgeous to look at. Furthermore, there was no doubt that the cast also delivered some really strong performances (Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kirsten Dunst). And, yet, somehow, it never grabbed me. Basically, in this movie, nobody really tells what they really think or what they really feel but it didn't bother me. What bothered more was the fact that the 4 main characters were all rather pathetic. Let's start with Phil Burbank. Basically, the guy turned out to be a closeted gay man who was pissed off with everyone around him but probably even more with himself. He is pretty much what would have happened to Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar if they would have never met each other. Concerning Peter Gordon, he was probably the most misleading of the bunch. Indeed, at first, he might seem to be a rather fragile soft-spoken (probably autistic) young man but he actually turned out to be a rather nifty cold-blooded killer after all. Concerning George Burbank, he was probably the most enigmatic of the bunch, not because he was so fascinating but because he suddenly disappeared and only showed up sporadically during the 2^nd act. I think he was the only one who actually figured out what was going on with his brother. However, he just didn't care much about it, just like he didn't care much that his wife became a miserable hopeless drunk. And since we're talking about his wife, Rose Gordon did get more screentime than her husband (in the film and in real life) but it's too bad that, most of the time, she was just drinking herself to death which got old fairly quickly. I thought it was also hard to believe that she would get so messed up by the behaviour of her nefarious brother-in-law but, on the other hand, even though I did face such bullying in the workplace, I have to admit that I never have to face it in my own family. Anyway, after reading all this, you might think that they were all fascinating. Well, good for you but, as far as I'm concerned, they were all rather sad, mediocre and, above all, never really interesting to behold. Still, to conclude, even this movie never really worked for me, I have to admit that it was a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested Jane Campion's work.