2+
1 (unwatchable) to 5 (unmissable)
| moviereview WINGED CREATURES |
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A group of disparate people manifest very different responses to grief following a shoot-out and suicide at an LA eatery. | score 2+ |
moviereview rates films from 1 (unwatchable) to 5 (unmissable) |
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| Cast Guy Pearce, Forest Whittaker, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Kate Beckinsale Director Rowan Woods Screenwriter Roy Freirich Country USA Rating / Running Time MA / 100 minutes Australian Release July 2009 Official Site (c) moviereview
2006-2009
ABN 72 775 390 361 |
Taking a cue from Crash, Roy Freirich adapts his own book with moderate success under studied direction from Australia’s Rowan Woods (Little Fish).
Collateral victims of a brutal shoot-out find their lives begin to
intersect once more as the need to fall apart overwhelms their desire
to keep it together. Winged Creatures
is a drama that has all the trappings of superior indie-films like
threaded plotlines, a big budget and even bigger, Oscar-baiting cast.
Which takes us back to Crash. Where it diverts is in finding a hook that successfully brings the characters together in any meaningful way. Headliners Forest Whittaker, Guy Pearce and Dakota Fanning are beautifully supported by Kate Beckinsale, Jennifer Hudson and Watchmen’s Jackie Earle Haley; characters whose paths slide about one another in days and weeks following the incident at an LA eatery. Binding them is a state psychologist who can’t make any headway at all. And in some ways his frustration reflects our own as the grief of each potentially intriguing character manifests itself in peculiar ways: Pearce takes to incrementally poisoning his wife, Whittaker goes on a gambling spree to make the most of good luck, Fanning turns to God. Woods wisely refuses to sentimentalise their pain, leaving us free to concentrate on hefty and unexpected responses to the shooting. But rather than springing organically, ideas are wedged into a storyline that fails to offer a solid core bound to a clear central theme, and by extension, to us. As character’s ticks and foibles play out, they soon become distracting rather than rewarding. Although Pearce’s God-complex remains poignant, Fanning’s proselytising is truly irksome although she is rewarded with a significant payoff. Despite the finest ingredients, Winged Creatures is a dish that never fully rises to the occasion. // COLIN FRASER |