GONE GIRL ****
Be careful before you decide moving from the big city, taking away the privileges from your young wife, and restarting in a remote country area, especially if you are out of time to fully assist her needs. And even if you are Ben Affleck, you’re not immune to the traps of a sociopath if that’s her case. Here, a beautiful young couple of writers are the players, and some circumstances will twist their romantic connection into a lethal game of deceit and macabre revelations. In his previous crime tales, David Fincher amused audiences worldwide with mind-blowing stories that would result where nobody thought it would go. “Seven”, “Fight Club” and “The Game” are the best examples of this aspect of a roller-coaster mystery that gained him respect as a great suspense visionary. This time, the director exposes his crime scene right in the beginning, as the wife fakes her disappearance literally destroying her partner’s life, but he keeps it as intriguing and unexpectedly as it can get on his mastery hands. Affleck is fantastic as the leading man, dividing opinions on and off screen about his innocence at first, and then compromising himself with his secrets, including his financial failure and an affair with a risky woman. Fincher finds here many sights of investigation, keeping the narrative busy with continuous turbulence coming from all parts: the husband, who seems to be the victim; the wife and the reasons for her disturbing turn-out; the detectives on top of the confusing investigation; people surrounding them and most importantly, the media, which becomes manipulative, exaggerated and imaginative, influencing both justice and the public opinion. With this level of judgment where everyone is guilty somehow, Fincher depicts a somber look at modern society and into a broken marriage (turned worse than Michael Douglas could ever imagined back in the days), with his usual astonishing aesthetic in the exploration of cinematography, editing and sound to tell his crime story with fascination. Plus, Rosamund Pike delivers the scariest character of the year, one awful femme fatale who is ready to seduce and destroy unmercifully. She’s guaranteed a spot on the 2014 Supporting Actress hall of fame. Chilling!
OTHER FEMALE EXPLORATION
Alice Rohrwacher’s coming-of-age tale “The Wonders” examines the emotions of a girl who lives happily with her family in an Italian farm cultivating honey. Named the “boss of the house”, Gelsomina is able to solve anything and to assist her family. Then she experiences conflicts that will defy her strength with the arrival of two guests, a rebellious German boy who’s staying there as a rehabilitation attempt and the crew of a TV Show recruiting the residents for a contest. On her second feature, Rohrwacher proves she has an incredible ability with her characters, the silent boy, the rude father, the mysterious aunt, extracting extreme honesty and bravery from the actors in this touching and delicate look at innocence and its first contact with love and ambition. (Playing Oct, 3rd and 4th at the 52nd NYFF)
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