konec Blog

Saw this today for the third time. The first time I was 14 and didn't like it at all -found it neither funny nor involving, I straight up didn't get it. The second time I was 18 and loved it. As I write this I am 20 and will be 21 in a week, which is as it turns out exactly how old Benjamin Braddock is at the start of the movie. I haven't graduated yet, but then I got held back in kindergarten for reasons which remain hazy to me. I still love it. Paul Simon's lyrics having nothing to do with anything (well, besides a few lines out of "Sound of Silence"), and that's kind of irritating, and I guess some of the symbolism is pretty heavy handed (though I find it effective nonetheless), but it really does capture beautifully the experience of being boring and indecisive and inarticulate, as Ben is and as I at times am/fear myself to be. And it's very, very funny.

The acting is excellent (really), the violence is efficient and matter-of-fact, the mood is of a sufficiently moody variety, and all the Russian gimcracks and gewgaws serve to distance this from most other mob flicks. If there is a fault, it's that all of its good qualities suggest more than it ends up delivering. The story turns out to be surprisingly slight and it all works itself out with relatively little hassle, all things considered. Its a good movie with plenty of damn fine elements, but I left feeling slightly underwhelmed.