Review: Die My Love
Official Synopsis: Grace (Jennifer Lawrence), a writer and young mother, is slowly slipping into madness. Locked away in an old house in and around Montana, we see her acting increasingly agitated and erratic, leaving her companion, Jackson (Robert Pattinson), increasingly worried and helpless.
I've been thinking of this film nonstop since I've seen it. I'm both in awe of it, and incredibly disappointed as well. I had high expectations for director Lynne Ramsay's long return to the big screen, and while I think she's a very qualified director to be tackling this subject matter, it left a bit to be desired.
Ramsay uses surrealism to bring us into Grace's state of mind. And in theory, this is a good choice, but she plays fast and loose with it. There's a character played by LaKeith Stanfield that I was so sure was a figment of Grace's imagination that when he pops up in "real" life, I couldn't help but mumble "what" to my self in the theater. And this for me is what brings this film down the most. It borderlines on being incoherent and there's only so much you can chalk up to it being just her state of mind. For something as serious as this subject matter is, and for how committed her actors were, it just needed a bit more structure. I would've preferred to actually see Grace get the help she needed than more of the surrealism.
And it's frustrating because this might be the best Jennifer Lawrence has ever been and that's saying something considering the quality of performances she normally gives. She absolutely goes for it here. She's so raw and emotional in a way I don't think I've seen her in before. Sissy Spacek and Robert Pattinson also deliver excellent performances, but this is Jen's show and she blew me away. In a better film, she'd be a lock for Best Actress.
Alas, there's just too many issues with the way the story is told overall, and I don't see academy voters loving this. I wanted to love it so badly, and I'd be lying to myself if I said I did. It's not a bad movie by any means, and I still think it's worth seeing, but man do I wish I liked it more.
Grade: C+
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the film but then again, I'm a stan of Ramsay as I love her films. I was enthralled by the whole thing as I think this is Jennifer Lawrence's best performance to date. I'm just glad I got to see one of Lynne Ramsay's films in the theaters for once as she doesn't make films very often.
ReplyDeleteI normally am too! Really bummed I couldn't connect with this more. But I too am glad I got to throw some theater money at it.
DeleteI still haven't seen this yet as I had some tech issues with Indee screeners, but I finally got it! The MN critics are deeply divided about this one, so I'm curious where I'd land. Do you like this one more or less than Night Bitch? It seems to have a similar story about motherhood.
ReplyDeleteOoohh that's tough. This one feels so different from Night Bitch because the characters are more isolated. I think I prefer this one though.
DeleteI can fully undertand people's issue with this one. It's a difficult one to enjoy because I don't think You are actually suppouse to enjoy it. Lynne Ramsay has created a character in Grace that she doesn't expect you to like but maybe just understand where she and other women who feel almost foced to give up a part of their lives feel when they become mothers. I dont know that's just how I interperted it
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