Let’s just say Andrew Dominik has a dark side, no? Killing Them Softly, for one, and he also likes the based on a true story as in Chopper (and now possibly Blonde). Mind you, violence is not my style so I’ve seen neither of the aforementioned, but there were more triggers for me in Blonde than in Alec Baldwin’s weapons wrangler’s gun chest, if you’ll forgive the dark joke. Certainly Andrew would chuckle.
First my complaints:
This is one of the most brutal movie experiences ever, the perfect film equivalent to the relentless 24 hours of sustained winds of Hurricane Ian. You name a horrible event in a woman’s life: attempted infanticide, child abuse, domestic abuse, miscarriage, rape and that is just the tip of the…iceberg. If I were a descendant of JFK or Joe DiMaggio, I would definitely hire an attorney for defamation of character or if true, get a lawyer to officially condemn these men (even though they are dead) for past crimes.
In order for a film to be quality, you MUST have some kind of balance; some light, some joy, even if fleeting. Therefore, Blonde is a very bad film and dare I say, Joyce Carol Oates is an evil force to put this out (in novel form) into the universe.
Ok, now for some positive comments:
Visually the film has its stunning moments, and excellent acting, hence making it eyeball porn. Here are a few specifics:
*the silly putty like sex scene which morphs into Niagara Falls
*the beach scene in gorgeous black and white with Marilyn and her threesome relationship with Charlie Chaplin Jr and Edgar J. Robinson Jr.
*the Bobby Cannavale proposal scene
*the white billowing skirt scene
*every scene with Adrian Brody as Arthur Miller
Three extra acting commendations all under the compliment for showing characters’ interior minds:
Ana de Armas, simply stunning, how she survived this role is amazing
Adrian Brody is like the dark chocolate of acting, every performance this man does is rich, rich, rich
Julianne Nicholson was amazing as Norma’s abusive mother, and makes Joan Crawford look like Leave it to Beaver’s mom
