A very good movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Alexander Payne and since it had been very well received, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, following the rather abysmal ‘Downsizing’, Payne took his time to come with a follow-up but it was definitely worth the wait as he made a real come-back here. Indeed, this movie really deserves all the praise it has received and I really enjoyed the damned thing. I can’t say I have any knowledge of how it must have been to go to such a posh boarding school back in the 70’s but it was so well made, they managed to deliver a really convincing time capsule and they gave a very convincing feeling of such time and place. Also for Paul Giamatti, who was working again with Payne almost 20 years after ‘Sideways’, even though he is always a solid actor, it was a long time ago since he had such a juicy part to play and he really nailed it. The movie might seem long but I think it worked really well as it gave Payne the opportunity to properly develop the characters and how they grew closer during this rather short time period. Eventually, the dynamic between the characters and the trajectory they followed, in particular with Paul Hunham and Angus Tully, was fairly basic and predictable but, because Payne took his time with them, it actually worked so well after all. At the end of the day, this curmudgeon teacher and this smart but volatile student had more in common than they thought and it was nice to see their journey. However, the real wild card here turned out to be Da'Vine Joy Randolph though. She would eventually win an Academy Award for her performance and, indeed, she really impressed me. Such a complex character with so much depth and layers, her character was actually the most interesting one of the bunch. Anyway, to conclude, even though Payne made me doubt after ‘Downsizing’, the guy clearly didn’t loose his touch, the damned thing is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

8/10