1/2/2024 0 Comments Findfocus review![]() Then Nicky is awoken in the middle of the night by his father who tells him that men are in the house. ![]() Rose’s sister Margaret (Moore in a dual role) is also a constant presence, and all seems to be perfect. The film, though, is busy with the story of Gardner Lodge (Matt Damon), a mid-level office square who is married to Rose (Julianne Moore), a down-the-middle ’50’s housewife who takes care of their son Nicky (Noah Jupe). ![]() The community starts a concentrated effort to drive the family out of their home, and it serves as an ongoing thing, this running thread that is constantly playing out. They are “the other,” and they will never be anything else. They’re trying to not sound racist as they sputter and spasm, but the Meyers family never stands a chance. The film opens with the mailman going house to house, and he’s the first one to come face to face with the family, the first to realize that something has shifted in their suburban “paradise.” He carries the news quickly, and by the end of the day, there’s a town meeting, the all-white faces red from panic and fury, and Clooney leans into the ugly of it. I wish Clooney had made these two different movies as two different movies, because I’d like to see their story told with them as the actual primary focus. It was the American dream, though, packaged and sold, and the only thing the Meyer family does wrong is believe the dream that they were sold. was enough to convince me that it is not a life for me. I find suburbia somewhat terrifying at this point, cloistered and suffocating, and being a homeowner in a neighborhood that was literally in the shadow of the perfect template from Spielberg’s E.T. My family moved frequently, so I’ve lived in versions of this neighborhood in Florida, Texas, and Tennessee, and I’ve seen places where things hadn’t changed at all from the vision presented here. Taking inspiration from real incidents, Clooney tells the story of the Meyer family, the first black family to move into Suburbicon, which is presented as a white mecca, an early-‘50s community that is familiar to anyone who has lived in American suburbia at all. The other story here, though, is anything but fun, and it’s the friction between the two where Clooney’s real ambition lies. The Coens love those kinds of stories, too, and one of the joys of watching Noah Hawley turn Fargo into an ongoing television series is that he understands exactly why those stories are so much fun to watch. There are two totally different movies unfolding in Suburbicon, and one of them is a sub-set of film noir that I have a fondness for, the story about the dumb guy who decides to mastermind a crime. Dark Castle was the genre arm of Joel Silver’s company, designed for more overt horror and thriller fare. If you pay attention during the film’s opening logos, though, the Dark Castle title card goes by right before Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures. ![]() It seems clear, then, why the two of them were intrigued by the possibilities in a long-unproduced script by Joel and Ethan Coen. When he’s given license to cut loose and indulge his inner doofus, he does so with relish, as does Matt Damon. Even his most serious work can be underlined with a wit that makes the bitter palatable. He loves to play jokes on his friends, especially long-con jokes that take months for an eventual punchline. If there’s ever a decision of his that seems confusing, just run it through the filter of whether or not you think it made him laugh. The latest film from George Clooney as director is an uneasy mix of disparate elements, and while it may not ever fully snap into focus, it is clearly an ambitious attempt to marry dark comedy, film noir, and social commentary.Ĭlooney’s defining characteristic is his sense of humor.
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