Film Of The Week !!!
Beautiful Creatures (2013)
I haven't done this in FOREVER. But I'm bored, I'm home for the summer so I might pick it back up again. Will also be trying to do more in-depth reviews because I went back and studied my other FOTWs and it was just me waffling for like 100 words. Girl no one give a fuhh
Okay so Beautiful Creatures has a really bad rep, and I do hold strong bias towards this film because me and my mum watched it together all the time when I was a wee child and I genuinely thought it was a cinematic masterpiece. And it is.
The acting is so bad in parts and although I love Jeremy Irons to death, oh my god he was STRUGGLINGGG with that accent. I love the characters though no matter how cringey, this was my twilight before I watched twilight and I genuinely think if they had come out with some sequels it could've had a lot more attention than it does now. And it's weird that not a lot of people have watched it considering it has a near all-star cast? Viola Davis, Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum, Zoey Deutch, Kyle Gallner and esteemed character actress Margo Martindale, like...
Anyways, what I enjoyed about the film was the cinematography. As you can see in the photos above, it's shot so beautifully. I did have specific selection because not every shot is as beautiful but the ones above are some of my favourites. They really immerse you in that small-town Southern Gothic aesthetic that many ethel cain fans would probably love to no end.
The soundtrack made by thenewno2 is amazing, the music is so carefully crafted and the little guitar glissandos get me every single time especially when they're paired with the breathy vocals. If you couldn't tell, I do parttake in listening to it without shame sometimes because it is just that good. Especially Searching For The Curse and The Burning Sign they are beautiful 100/10 no notes, no complaints, I sit there experiencing a pure frisson of awe (oop #cringe (but it's true)).
What it didn't do so well: okay so, like i had previously said, the acting was a bit naff. To be honest. There are parts where the dialogue is so cringey or something just doesn't feel right, which isn't to say the actors didn't do a good job, but I do feel like there could've been some better delivery of certain lines or maybe if the script had been tweaked it could've saved me hiding my eyes behind my hands and peeking at the screen. Again, not terrible, but it takes you out of the charm of the film for a good second.
I'm not going to lie, I haven't read the books but I will purchase when I'm able to because I do genuinely love this film and I would really love to understand why it's such a bad adaptation, I've heard that two characters within the Novel were merged into one character (Amma and Marian) which ended up being Viola Davis' character, Amma. I don't know why they did this, it could be because they blew all their budget on an all star cast, vocal coaches who did not help that much or because they were feeling a bit lazy. There's apparently a lot that happens within the book that just gets forgotten about within the screen adaptation, such as certain powers not being acknowledged or characters having been misrepresented such as Rossum's character Ridley.
Now, is it perfect? NO !!! it's far from it. If i made it big one day as a director my first plan would be to turn the books into a tv show adaptation because I just feel that would be better suited. However, the overall look and feel of the film is really magnetic, with beautiful aesthetics and set design. And if there is a twilight fan reading this then I would actively encourage you to seek this film out and try it out. If you can deal with Twilight cringe you can definitely power through this.
It's definitely one of my most favourite films, it's really comforting and something you can watch over and over without getting bored so realistically I would give it ★★★☆☆
However, due to the fact that I grew up on it, I'm giving it ★★★★★
Something I forgot to mention is that the VFX is shockingly bad. Prepare yourself for cheap streaks of lightning bolts because they are very very frequent.
