Stillwater

I know, I know, most of you probably took a good nap, counted your fingers, or watched the cockroaches crawling under the TV, but I enjoyed Matt's quasi-detective "Lost in Translation" quite a bit. Even in slow-moving films, there's plenty to find interesting and here, despite the respectable runtime, only the essentials are told. It would be a shame to cut out the family relationship ballast around it, because it would only harm this sober narrative. The story has a very realistic esprit, with a moral dilemma at the end – as in real life, nothing is just black and white. And I liked Matt Damon's subdued performance very much, exactly what a dyed-in-the-wool praying Republican would look like. (2021.10.26)

In the first hour, Stillwater looks like a very decent whodunit with an engaging pace and a nice crime plot, with a father collecting evidence that would get his daughter out of jail, only to slip back into a stereotypical family drama in the second half without the slightest effort to tell the story of the crime game. The result is "a little bit of everything" that is certainly not bad, it doesn't bore and Matt Damon on screen manages to entertain skillfully, but I can't help feeling that although it was digestible, I found the final third to be lacking in punch and feeling for the chosen path. In fact, it felt like it just sailed into the final credits. On the one hand a pity, on the other hand I was expecting a much more boring affair. (2021.12.10)