Suburbicon

 

Suburbicon 2017

• Director: George Clooney
• Seen by this director: Good Night and Good Luck, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Oscar Isaac, Noah Jupe, Karimah Westbrook, Leith M Burke, Tony Espinosa
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Matt Damon – The Martian, Interstellar, Elysium, Contagion, True Grit, Invictus, The Informant, The Brothers Grimm, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Bourne Identity, Dogma, Good Will Hunting
• Julianne Moore – The Kids Are All Right, The Hunger Games, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, I’m Not There, Children of Men, The Hours, Far from Heaven, The Shipping News, The Big Lebowski, Boogie Nights, Surviving Picasso, The Fugitive, Benny and Joon
• Oscar Isaac – Dune, Star Wars, Annihilation, X-Men Apocalypse, Ex Machina, Inside Llewin Davis, Robin Hood
• Noah Jupe – The Night Manager
• Karimah Westbrook – The Rum Diary, American Violet, Save the Last Dance
• Why? The Coen Brothers (writers) and George Clooney.
• Seen: 6 February 2023      

       The perfect white suburb in the US in the 50s, then a black family moves in. The white community is appalled, furious, indignant. The white boy Nicky (Jupe) plays baseball with the black boy Andy (Espinosa) but the white adults harass the black family, even resorting to violence.

       Meanwhile, there is drama in Nicky’s family. And the question arises. Is this a family drama, a comedy, a murder mystery, a political satire, a parody (of Fargo)? All of the above? You never know with the Coen Brothers. Or George Clooney for that matter.

       Funnily enough, it all seems to pull together, but to measure up to Fargo it needs a Macy, a Stormare, a Buscemi and above all a McDormand.

       Even without them, though, it’s pretty good.      

3 ½ * of 5