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Here is another craftsman who suddenly became one of America's new "cinematic gurus," with followers even in our peninsula. That David O. Russell who hit it big only after "The Fighter" and the related Oscar wins for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo. Genius? A filmmaker capable of rejuvenating American classicism?
"American Hustle" comes after the trail of success and acclaim received after the aforementioned "The Fighter" and "Silver Linings Playbook." Perfect films in their integration into the Hollywood studio system. Essentially, David Russell is this: a director of questionable talent, lacking particular "compositional" filmic skills, technically average, not visionary, but friends with big producers. Someone who, when he wants to, can rely on current star actors. This feature film, too, is nothing more than a staging of productive wills: in the names, the screenplay, the overall production of a film that has been nearly hailed as a masterpiece.
Operation "Abscam": the FBI enlists a few con artists, including Irving (Christian Bale) and Sydney (Amy Adams), to eradicate corruption in the American political environment and reveal the links between that environment and the mafia "underworld." The screenplay (also written by Russell) moves on this framework. The premises for a scorsese-style police thriller were all there. The problem is that Russell is not Scorsese, and his direction is weak, lacking a particular attractive ability. There's a lack of directorial inspiration that would leave at least some impactful scenes imprinted on the viewer. A deficiency in staging directly proportional to the story told, which reeks of "already seen" and in the end sublimates all its inconsistency, with a conclusion that is predictable and therefore foreseeable. Perhaps the scene that remains most imprinted is the one where Bradley Cooper with curlers talks on the phone with Amy Adams with curlers. Poetry...
"American Hustle" is a good actors' film, which narrowly saves itself because one of the few things Russell manages to get right is the film's pacing. Although it lacks emotional and expressive power, the plot proceeds with the not to be underestimated ability not to bore.
The film in question is a means to redefine Russell's work, now one of the most fashionable filmmakers in Hollywood, but also largely appreciated by the audience seeking "quality cinema": a great director of actors, certainly not a visionary or a new wizard of the seventh art. "American Hustle" is his perfect child, crafted to appeal a bit to everyone and with the right names to bring as many people as possible to the theater. It somewhat recalls the trajectory of the other "great" new director Tom Hooper, who with a little film like "The King's Speech" had become the new cinematic phenomenon of the moment.
Perhaps, in these recent years dominated by computerized blockbusters, the overwhelming CGI, the muscular and self-serving exhibitionism of Hollywood spectacles, a couple of famous actors and a veiled pretense of authorship are enough to elevate one to a new master of the seventh art.
"American Hustle" comes after the trail of success and acclaim received after the aforementioned "The Fighter" and "Silver Linings Playbook." Perfect films in their integration into the Hollywood studio system. Essentially, David Russell is this: a director of questionable talent, lacking particular "compositional" filmic skills, technically average, not visionary, but friends with big producers. Someone who, when he wants to, can rely on current star actors. This feature film, too, is nothing more than a staging of productive wills: in the names, the screenplay, the overall production of a film that has been nearly hailed as a masterpiece.
Operation "Abscam": the FBI enlists a few con artists, including Irving (Christian Bale) and Sydney (Amy Adams), to eradicate corruption in the American political environment and reveal the links between that environment and the mafia "underworld." The screenplay (also written by Russell) moves on this framework. The premises for a scorsese-style police thriller were all there. The problem is that Russell is not Scorsese, and his direction is weak, lacking a particular attractive ability. There's a lack of directorial inspiration that would leave at least some impactful scenes imprinted on the viewer. A deficiency in staging directly proportional to the story told, which reeks of "already seen" and in the end sublimates all its inconsistency, with a conclusion that is predictable and therefore foreseeable. Perhaps the scene that remains most imprinted is the one where Bradley Cooper with curlers talks on the phone with Amy Adams with curlers. Poetry...
"American Hustle" is a good actors' film, which narrowly saves itself because one of the few things Russell manages to get right is the film's pacing. Although it lacks emotional and expressive power, the plot proceeds with the not to be underestimated ability not to bore.
The film in question is a means to redefine Russell's work, now one of the most fashionable filmmakers in Hollywood, but also largely appreciated by the audience seeking "quality cinema": a great director of actors, certainly not a visionary or a new wizard of the seventh art. "American Hustle" is his perfect child, crafted to appeal a bit to everyone and with the right names to bring as many people as possible to the theater. It somewhat recalls the trajectory of the other "great" new director Tom Hooper, who with a little film like "The King's Speech" had become the new cinematic phenomenon of the moment.
Perhaps, in these recent years dominated by computerized blockbusters, the overwhelming CGI, the muscular and self-serving exhibitionism of Hollywood spectacles, a couple of famous actors and a veiled pretense of authorship are enough to elevate one to a new master of the seventh art.
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