I mean, yeah, it's beautiful to look at, with gorgeous costumes and soaring music and strong histrionics from the actors.

But I kept thinking of the expression "you can't polish a turd." Ford really tries polishing here big time. But in the end, it's just hollow sadism and cynicism. I didn't think it had anything to say, other than The Themes It Says Out Loud In The Dialogue.

Two high notes:
1. Michael Shannon, who comes in and saves the fucking movie every time he's on screen.
2. The mockery of the art world. I was roughly a billion times more interested in Ford making fun of those people than the book plot, but then we'd cut back to Gyllenhaal screaming and Adams staring off into the middle distance from bed.

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