Thursday, April 11, 2024

"All the Light We Cannot See"

This is one of those situations where I really wish I had read the book.  Anthony Doerr is a gifted author and I may have liked this better in book form???  Unlike "A Small Light", which I very much liked for its fresh qualities, this one hit a lot of familiar notes.  There is clear delineation between good and bad.  The Nazis come off like the ones from any given Indiana Jones film.  There are good actors here.  Each brings a lot more depth to roles which seem to be a bit two-dimensional, but it doesn't help.  It's sad but I felt a difficulty connecting.  The accents are distracting.  Most are British, some are vaguely European, and Mark Ruffalo, who has impressed with the wide variety of characters he has played (including identical twin brothers, where one is differently-abled), seems a little lost here.  His accent seems more like an affect than anything else.  Young Aria Mia Loberti is engaging but it is not enough.  There just isn't enough "something" to carry the story through.  Again, I have to wonder if Doerr's prose in print form would have been more engaging and would have drawn me in.  This production sadly didn't.  Maybe I'm ODing on all the Holocaust dramas out right now.  Who knows?  It's watchable.  It's just not "outstanding".  And, given the cast and the source material, I expected better.

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