PREMISE
An amateur bodybuilder battles both the limits of his physical body and his inner demons to gain recognition.
BRO…..
I guess I wanted to see magazine dreams because of what was being said beforehand about the Oscar possibilities of Jonathan Majors. I understand that the man has wasted his entire potential, but I wanted to see where it could have gone. Majors has been pretty great in many things he was in up until all of his controversies came through, and there’s no exception here. What he pulls off here is a one-note, one trick pony kind of performance. This is not a character study in any way, shape, or form. No shades of gray are being played here into any kind of personality type. This is a performance that pulls off one trick. However, it’s a hell of a trick that not many other actors can pull to the extent that he does. As with many other actors with punk-ass personalities tend to be… Majors still is a great performer. This cannot be denied.
But as far as all the Oscar hype type of bull**** that this movie was getting? I don’t understand it. I was there when this movie was getting the hype that it did. There were direct comparisons to the wrestler, and I will push back on that VEHEMENTLY. I think the similarities have been drawn between the two films because of the similar physicality of these characters’ occupations. However, the wrestler was a story about a man’s ego getting in the way of his happiness. Magazine dreams is… well… not that.
One movie that I vehemently hate, that society seems to love is Requiem for A dream, a film with the same type of vibe as MAGAZINE DREAMS. In the case of both films, I will acknowledge the performances and how well directed they are. Still, I’ve always been under the impression that the pure absolute nihilism they both display ain’t really all that thought provoking or clever. It doesn’t enhance your indie film cred, make your screenplay award worthy, or make your directorial stylings of higher consideration.
Mind you a cynical movie can do that, (like 75% of David Fincher’s catalog) hell, a pessimistic movie can even do that. (Like 90% of Lars Von Trier’s catalog) But nihilism? Something that showcases continuous physical and psychological suffering without character development or story fluctuation? It makes the film itself an endurance test of how many seriously f***** up things society can put one character through as this character is both self-harming, and taking copious amounts of steroids. If anything it’s directorial masturbation.
Oh and this last 15 minutes stretch? Hoo-boy…
There’s enough really horrible sad and ultimately f***** up things going on in the world that you can turn on the news and watch at home for free rather than paying money to see magazine dreams.
MAGAZINE DREAMS is in theaters on March 21st.