This Must Be the Place

24 September 2018

This Must Be the Place 2011

• Director: Paolo Sorrentino
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Sean Penn, Frances McDormand
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sean Penn – The Tree of Life, Milk, The Interpreter, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, 21 Grams, Mystic River, Pauly Shore Is Dead, I Am Sam, Friends, Before Nightfall, Being John Malkovich, The Thin Red Line, Dead Man Walking, Carlito’s Way, Shanghai Surprise, Racing with the Moon, Fast Times in Ridgemont High
• Frances McDormand – Moonrise Kingdom, Burn After Reading, North Country, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Almost Famous, Fargo, Palookaville, Barton Fink, Mississippi Is Burning, Raising Arizona, Hill Street Blues, Blood Simple
• Why? Sean Penn and Frances McDormand, and recommended by good friend JW
• 21 September 2018 

A Goth Sean Penn has got to be good, right? I mean even better than usual?

Here he’s a former rock star called Cheyenne. He’s in his 50’s, living in a mansion in Dublin with his wife Jane (McDormand) who is a firefighter. He’s recognised everywhere he goes because he still dresses Goth with the wild black hair, the heavy black eye make-up and the red lipstick. He’s very spaced out while Jane is practical, determinedly cheerful and athletic. She keeps things together.

When his father dies he goes back to New York and thus starts a road trip around America as he and his uncle try to hunt down a Nazi war criminal who had been a guard at Auschwitz when Cheyenne’s father was a prisoner there.

I’m all for weird and this has some strong moments with good acting by the two leads, but I just can’t get into this surreal ramble. Every time it starts to be about something, some peculiar irrelevant little side story is tossed in.

Visually it’s quite beautiful and though I’m not a Talking Heads enthusiast the music is good. But I can’t make sense of this film. Ha ha ‘Stop Making Sense’ – sadly this film never starts. Sorry, JW, it might be a brilliant movie but for me it’s

2 * of 5