All Good Things (2010) Reviews

• well-executed 'exhumation' of an unsolved murder

  mgorman-62010-12-18

  In All Good Things, the director/writer has created a plausible fiction to account for a series of actual crimes. The evolution of the supposed killer from carefree youth to malignant immoralist is depicted, step by step. The strength of the movie as a story lies in its focus on a web of characters and their relationships to one another, rather than on the crimes themselves. We never see actual violence, but only its effects on characters, and their subsequent efforts to conceal the truth, to escape from their situation, or to satisfy some personal need. The movie functions mainly as a kind of indictment, and I wonder if it would work were it not for the 'documentary' angle, the movie as crusader for the truth, bringing to light the possible culpability of a real person, abetted by certain friends and family, a man as yet unpunished. The motivations of this character, the object of the indictment, are accounted for in the course of the story, as various traumatic and painful incidents from his life are shown or recalled, and by allusions to deviant mental conditions or sexual preferences that are not. Whether these revelations are served up clearly or merely hinted at, they somehow fail collectively to satisfy as explanations for the barbarism that emerges as the story proceeds. At the end, the inner life of the putative killer remains obscure, a source of dissatisfaction for a movie that is about character. So, not a great movie, but an engrossing entertainment if you are in the mood for a dark story that leaves you wondering how closely real events in fact matched up to this clever reconstruction.

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• Some Not So Good Things

  ferguson-62011-01-23

  Greetings again from the darkness. Who among us isn't intrigued by a real life "unsolved" murder mystery? Throw in a very wealthy New York real estate family, a never-discovered body, an executed friend, and a horrible childhood trauma and it is certain to draw the attention of filmmaker Andrew Jarecki. Jarecki's film "Capturing the Friedmans" won numerous awards and is among the best documentaries ever made. He has a knack with dark family secrets. In the film, Ryan Gosling plays David Marks, disenchanted son of Real Estate mogul Sanford Marks (a powerful Frank Langella), who witnessed the grisly suicide of his mother when he was very young. David meets the energetic and affectionate Katie (Kirsten Dunst) and the two dreamers escape Daddy's clutches and head to Vermont to open a health food store. Finally wilting under pressure from Sanford, the couple returns to the city and David joins the family business. The good things are soon to end. Since much of the real life story is still a mystery, Jarecki does a nice job in assembling pieces from the trial records. Along the way, we meet David's friend Deborah Lehrman (Lilly Rabe), an acclaimed writer who seems to always be there for David ... as he is for her. We witness the transformation of David from loving husband to mentally disturbed murder suspect. Jarecki gives us some guidance on what might have happened and how the plan could have been executed, but we'll never know for sure. What we do know is that there was not much happiness associated with this family, despite the wealth and 42nd Street real estate holdings. The acting in the film is tremendous. Gosling, Dunst and Langella are top notch. Yes, Ms. Dunst provides what is easily her best screen performance ever. Support work from Lily Rabe, Phillip Baker Hall, Nick Offerman and Kristen Wiig is all strong and believable. This one will give you the creeps ... and rightly so.

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• Spectacular performances by Dunst and Gosling!

  stiff52010-11-07

  "All Good Things" is a love story and murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New York real estate dynasty in the 1980s. Directed by Andrew Jarecki (director of the Academy Award-nominated doc Capturing the Friedmans), the film was inspired by the story of Robert Durst, scion of the wealthy Durst family. Mr. Durst was suspected but never tried for killing his wife Kathie who disappeared in 1982 and was never found. The film stars Ryan Gosling as David Marks, Kirsten Dunst as Katie McCarthy, and Frank Langella as David's father, Sanford Marks. From the beginning, the relationship between Gosling and Dunst is very intriguing and interesting; possibly the best part of the story. Their chemistry is very believable and charming. As David and Katie start their lives together, everything seems perfect. However, all good things must come to an end. David's father does not approve of Katie or of David's lifestyle. Disappointment is all he sees in his son. David seeks to please his father, even if that risks his own happiness. Katie becomes increasingly independent, hoping for more out of their happy life and marriage. David likes things as they are. Soon enough, secrets from his past slowly begin to surface, resulting in mistakes and consequences that cannot be changed. I won't mention details into David's past, but it soon becomes apparent that this happy marriage wasn't meant to be. Jarecki does a very good job of showing us a perfect marriage as it slowly crumbles and falls into nothing. It's very effective, and at times, tough to watch. Although it is difficult to get into his character, Gosling is superb. He does the best of what can be done with a character that isn't given easy material to work with. It's quite sad to see a character who obviously needs help, but is never able to get it. Dunst gives an incredible performance. She stole the show. Her character is of a woman who loves her "prince charming" with everything that she has, but as their relationship dies, she slowly disintegrates into an abused mess. Dunst gives one of the best performances of her career. The first half of the film was good. Jarecki, however, did have issues with piecing together the second half of the film. This is when the supporting characters of the film became an important part in moving the story along. Truthfully, we did not know or care enough about some of these characters. It was difficult becomes there was no one that we could really root for. It was still interesting, but not nearly as good as the first half. Everyone gave great performances. Lily Rabe, Kristen Wiig, and Philip Baker Hall were wonderful. Not one bad performance out of the entire cast. "All Good Things" is an intriguing story that studies two people as they rise to their greatest, but unfortunately fall to their worst. The performances make this film worthwhile. The film isn't perfect, but I found it to be a very interesting portrayal of a true story that will clearly blow your mind. 7/10

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• Condemnation by Hollywood--a horrid tale told with perfunctory familiarity

  secondtake2011-05-16

  All Good Things (2010) Here's a story that was dramatic in life and equally dramatic on paper, as a story pitch. What wouldn't sound thrilling, in Hollywood terms, about a latent psychopath of a man, his aging older power hungry father, and a charming young innocent woman caught up in a struggle for happiness and wealth? And so "All Good Things" had all the right things to get going. On top of that, the three actors are all excellent in their own ways, Ryan Gosling, Frank Langella, and Kirsten Dunst, respectively. What falters is something more subtle, some combination of screen writing (that magic of turning an idea into something concrete) and direction (that hard technical and aesthetic work of pulling it all off). It turns out that the screenwriters are both first timers, and the director has one other film to his credit, so there is a sense of still figuring things out that is evident here. The movie lacks elegance, for sure, though it doesn't lack intensity at times, using well-worn but necessary tricks (girl arrives at night into dark room and man is waiting in shadows for her, etc.). Not that this is a bad movie. The story itself grows and multiplies even as the characters remain somewhat thin. The one character who get complicated is the leading man, Gosling's David Marks, the troubled son who knows he's troubled and tries to hide it and eventually cannot. You can ask of course deep questions about why this man turned so rotten, and the answer the film provides is that his father pushed him relentlessly in a dirty business rife with secrecy and power. That he didn't find salvation in the "perfect" Kirsten Dunst (who was never demanding, always supportive and loving, etc., to the point of simplicity) is part of his own tragedy. Ultimately this is a simple story about guy who, as his father said to his face, was a "weak man." And if this is a movie about a weak man being trapped by circumstances and therefore given a license to violence, it doesn't reveal or express those qualities in ways that would sway or disturb us. We are mostly reminded that it really happened, and that the guy is still out there, down South, selling real estate.

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• Im gonna keep this simple and short

  danielkjeilen2010-12-08

  I had never heard this story before, and found it very interesting in a way that kept me wanting more to see of this film.This movie kept me entertained almost the whole time. has some boring moments like every movie, but still a fantastic movie to enjoy on a weekday. I recommend it to film lovers who wants something more then the usual crap Hollywood has been giving us lately. It's not an Oscar movie, but it in my opinion it deserve high points at IMDb. Really enjoyed watching Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst working together. they did a good job I think. Summary: Good directing, Good acting, Good screenplay, Good film. 7/10

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