A good movie

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but, since I'm huge fan of Joaquin Phoenix, I was quite eager to check it out. In my opinion, even if Phoenix might not be the best actor around, he is definitely one of the most interesting at work nowadays. Indeed, pretty much everything he did after he came back from his fake retirement was worth a look and this movie was not an exception. To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t completely sold though. I mean, as far as I was concerned, this movie did feel half of the time really sweet and genuine, delivering some fully fledged characters in the process, but it did also feel rather pretentious and shallow. It was like the black-and-white cinematography. Sure, it did look really neat, no doubt about it, but, after all, it doesn't mean much though, it doesn't make your movie more profound because there is a lack of color and, eventually, it does seem to be a cheap trick to make your movie look more artistic than it actually is. Another thing that slightly bothered me was the fact that all the characters seemed to have some really cool inspiring and artistic jobs which shows how remote the whole thing was from reality. Another point was, even though the interviews were deep and it was great to give these children a voice, to be honest, it also felt rather disingenuous. I mean, it seemed like a great fantasy that all kids could be so articulate. I'm not saying that kids are dumb, they are in fact pretty average like everyone else and even adults barely can't talk like these kids in these interviews. Concerning the acting, well, there was nothing to complain about in this area as Joaquin Phoenix was pretty much pitch-perfect as usual and the little kid was fine as well. It was probably the greatest asset in this movie, how they displayed this very sweet and seemingly authentic  relationship burgeoning between this uncle and his nephew. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn't really blow me away, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Joaquin Phoenix's work. 

7/10