am77
Not so long ago, back in 2010, I saw this film that made me fall asleep in the cinema. It was called The American and it starred George Clooney. I never thought that such a need to close my eyes and curl up on my seat would happen again. It has.
Before I started watching Lincoln, my thoughts were very straightforward. “It would have to go really badly so that Spielberg doesn’t make a good movie”, I said to myself. Now that I have seen it, I can confirm that it is good, perfectly accomplished, as always. But, oh my, it is boring.
But that extreme boredom doesn’t mean I can’t say positive things about Lincoln, far from it! Spielberg knows how to recreate wars, you can see that in the two war-related scenes that don’t involve cabinets. And while the film may look like a typically American thing at some times (MANY times), Steven Spielberg is part of USA history, so there is no surprise.
But I have to hand it to Daniel Day-Lewis. The film is a snooze, but his performance is impeccable, absolutely brilliant, like everything he does (I still prefer Hugh Jackman to win, sorry).
And yet, it feels as if he talks too much, telling way too many stories… without even showing flashbacks of them! But I guess the important aspect of it is to watch DDL (I’ll refer to him like that from now on) talking. Besides, an intelligent thing Spielberg does with the monologues is to film them in just one shot. That adds a dramatic quality to an already excellent performance, displaying why he is going to win a third Oscar: there haven’t been in the History of cinema actors so talented and devoted to their characters as DDL. He is pure genius.
Oh my, the movie was so dense that I’ve had to stop writing for a whole day.
I am not going to bore you anymore with this review, I will only give you some advice: go and see Lincoln if you want to be taught a master class on flawless filmmaking and History of USA, but don’t expect it to be action-packed.
I have warned you.
LINCOLN FACTS
Man, they used to hit tables A LOT back in 1865!
It’s a pity that Sally Field is nominated again after 28 years in this edition, where Anne Hathaway is clearly going to win, because she is splendid. In a different year, she could have taken home her third Oscar with her performance.
In fact, she is so good at it that you forget she is actually 20 years older than Mary Todd Lincoln was in 1865. Spielberg didn’t want to cast Field, but he let her audition as a favour. Even DDL travelled to USA (very kind of him, by the way). And she was so believable during the audition that, well, there she is, playing Mrs. Lincoln (and she gained 25lbs for the role).
Tommy Lee Jones has a couple of scenes that are really Oscar worthy, but I still prefer Christoph Waltz.
Very clever Spielberg! He fools us at the end, during the theatre scene when Lincoln dies (oh, I have spoiled the end…).
Even other characters in the film were getting bored! At one point, one man (I don’t remember who he was at all) yells at Lincoln: “I don’t wanna hear one of your stories again!”
Jean Dujardin won last year without pronouncing a single word in The Artist. This year, DDL is winning because he has said every existing word in Collins English Dictionary.
If you want to read my opinion about the possible winners of this year’s Oscars, don’t miss my article about it! J