Scott Cooper’s films technically occupy different genres, but they tend to feel similar because they’re often pulp stories that teeter on the brink of tragedy and sometimes fall into tragedy. horror movies of 2021 Antlers2015 gang photo black massand the 2013 family crime drama outside the furnace A little more fun, a little less fun and all could be well received.Their no-nonsense yet artisanal approach to genre-friendly material makes Cooper’s new Netflix movie pale blue eye In 1830, young (and fictional) Edgar Allan Poe helps a detective solve a murder mystery at the Military Academy of West Point.
this is not a prequel Crow, a 2012 John Cusack film that pairs a fictional Poe and a detective to solve a series of murders. Cooper aptly adapts the Edgar-nominated novel by Louis Bayard, but he doesn’t take the story in a blink-and-you’ll-miss direction. Instead, he casts frequent collaborator professional sourps Christian Bale as August Lander, a lone detective summoned to West Point to investigate a disturbing mutilation following an apparent suicide. The body, first found hanging from a tree, later had its heart removed by an unknown party. Lander agrees to find the killer, pointing out that it is clearly a murder. Early in his investigation, he gets a little advice from a young cadet named Poe (played by Harry Melling in the Harry Potter films).
Of course Poe knows poetry. His interest in literature is just one of the factors that contribute to his pariah status at West Point, and he recognizes the symbolic nature of removing the heart after death. In Landor, he finds a quiet comrade. When he sees the detective’s well-stocked bookshelf, he becomes ecstatic.Melling ā After playing Harry Potter antagonist Dudley Dursley, he landed roles in projects like Queen’s ruse and Joel Coen’s Tragedy of Macbeth ā It really looks like Poe’s photo. His Virginian accent is a bit satirical, but it works as part of his overall weirdo presentation, much like a British actor playing an American.
Melling plays a boastful Poe who may be a little shy and self-conscious to find an enthusiastic audience. Bale backs off his natural intensity just enough for Landor to be its audience. Their odd couple team-up creates an understated tenderness amidst all the brutal elements that bring back Poe’s stories and poems.
The rest of the cast is stacked. Melling’s Harry Potter co-stars Toby Jones and Timothy Spall, Simon McBurney, Charlotte Gainsbourg, X-fileGillian Anderson, and a small part of Robert Duvall. However, all celebrities offer more color than a truly memorable scene. In some cases, it’s just an accessory to the character’s elaborate beard and hat. Fewer cadets can be difficult to spot, reducing the film’s already sparse lineup of suspects. Will it be? Of course. This is not a movie that downplays the tradition of murder mysteries that the real Poe helped establish.
That doesn’t limit the somewhat overwhelming mystery plot and general crime novel antics. pale blue eye All that is needed for the charming protagonists and the winter landscapes in which they live.Cooper turns back, dabbled in rural terror again Antlers‘Visceral damp rot. In the film’s black, white, and blue color palette, New York’s snow looks pristine. The atmosphere isn’t quite Poe-style gothic, but it does have gorgeous, moody touches, like the dialogue between the two characters almost perfectly silhouetted in moonlight.
At times, focusing on a remote-looking outpost in beautiful scenery, and with the mysterious deaths under investigation, this film resembles a wintery western as much as a horror-tinged thriller. Moon movies are the rare January movies that feel seasonally appropriate for chilly post-holiday blues. It’s a movie meant to be watched while relaxing by a fire, whether the fireplace is figurative or literal.
Cooper still has a bit of trouble enjoying the mood he creates.It’s not fair to expect The complete Tim Burton workup for this material, pale blue eye It doesn’t capture the flash of madness that informs some of Poe’s most famous stories. It’s how part of his narrator draws the reader into a subversive obsession. In this movie, Poe looks more like a romantic Sherlock Holmes figure. He is an eccentric and often misunderstood genius who can examine the world as a beautiful box of puzzles.
The film doesn’t do much for the most meta aspect of the story: the fact that the real Poe helped invent the modern detective story. (Admittedly, relying too much on that idea might have been unbearable. Some of his line delivery. At times, the movie feels like it’s having fun despite itself. In a way, it’s perfect that Poe shows up so many times to bring his story to life.
pale blue eye Currently streaming on Netflix.