I wonder if O liked this.

Yes, I kinda liked the movie...

In all my time at this forum, I can't recall being the first to see any movie. I usually only see a movie once the movie reviews page is at page 8 +.

But aside from that, it really is a fantastic and well made film. I think it will definitely stand the test of time.

Once I have a bit more time, I'll put a full review.

I've seen it too. It is a very good film. Hard to watch. It drags more than I hoped it would. The direction is slow and VERY deliberate and pensieve at times.

For most of its running time, I felt like it was very well-made, but distanced. I didn't emotionally invest in the characters. But by the end, it got me. Whoever sees the final scene and isn't at least a little bit moved, is made of stone.

Ejiofor will walk home with that Oscar.

He's no Leo.

That's true. He'll get the Oscar and Leo won't.

Leo on Oscar night next year:

This movie is emotionally draining - its power doesn't really hit you until the last 30 minutes or so and by the end I think close to everyone in the audience was bawling. It's one of the few movies where I wasn't really moved until I left the theater and then thinking about it afterwards it really started hitting me hard. It's absolutely incredible and should win several major Oscars this year - the entire ensemble cast is great but the standouts for me were Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson (who plays against type to chilling effect) and a stunning film debut from Lupita Nyong'o, who will break your heart. All four deserve Oscar nominations and possibly wins, IMO. There's a scene maybe 15 minutes before the end of the movie that's straight-up horrifying involving all four parties - it was so hard to watch. And while the ending is somewhat satisfying it definitely has a somber tone to it as well that will undoubtedly provoke lots of discussion and leave audiences thinking as they leave the theater. SO well-done on a technical level too - brilliant direction, cinematography, score, costumes and production design. The fact that this film was able to accomplish so much on a $20 million budget is stunning and makes The Butler look positively cheap in comparison. It does have its slower moments but by the end I think it's next to impossible to leave this film feeling nothing. A

The "smartest film critic in the world" didn't like it...
http://www.colesmithey.com/reviews/2013 ... slave.html

(The only film of 2013 WORSE than 12YAS? Gatsby)

Cole Smithey also hated Toy Story 3. He tends to sway the opposite way a lot and you could say he's the white Armond White.

Speaking of Armond, you'll never guess what he thought of this...

http://cityarts.info/2013/10/16/cant-trust-it/

I, for one, am fucking grateful that we can get an awards candidate that is not 150 minutes long or longer. Had that enough ast year with Django, Les Mis, Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty.

12 Years a Slave's emotional heft sneaks up on you, bit by bit, until the very ending where most people will probably be close to bawling. It's an incredibly powerful and unfliching look at slavery, one that stays far away from exploitation; Steve McQueen's uncompromising approach makes the film often very difficult to watch, but most will be glad they stick with it. Chiwetel Ejiofor's remarkable acting here justifies all of the Oscar buzz. It's a performance of tremendous conviction and dignity. Numerous high-profile actors (Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti) drift in and out in small roles, but there are three top-notch supporting performances worth singling out. Michael Fassbender offers a fascinating portrayal of cruelty; his inner confusion between his sadism and his attraction to his slave Patsey reminded me quite a bit of Ralph Fiennes' Amon Goeth in Schindler's List. He is well-matched by Sarah Paulson as his spiteful wife. As Patsey, Lupita Nyong'o makes a forceful film debut as possibly the film's most heartbreaking piece. There have been good movies about slavery, some great, but for some reason it feels like they've mostly just scratched the surface. 12 Years a Slave shows the truth. A

Is this the first Steve McQueen film you have watched, Libs?

No, I saw Shame.

I think it's somewhat important that we barely ever get a since of time in the film- if the audience knew what was happening in a specific year then the whole movie would be a countdown to when Solomon is freed and dampen the tension the film builds so effectively. By not providing that respite we're thrown into Solomon's suffering without any indication of when it will end.

oh wow this is Steve McQueen?
now I really wanna see this.

By the way, did anyone else notice SNL's Taran Killam as one of the "business associates" of Solomon's at the beginning? That took me out of the movie for a second, lol

It's been a week since I saw this, and I can't stop thinking about it. 12 Years a Slave is haunting, and brutal in its depiction of slavery. Steve McQueen continues his amazing streak, and confidently directs this piece. Chiwetel Ejiofor is brilliant, and will probably win that Oscar. Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, and Michael Fassbender give astounding performances that should also be rewarded. I'm having a difficult time actually describing this experience, just because it's so memorable, and thought provoking. Some scenes are still stuck in my head, especially scenes where McQueen lets his camera linger for greater impact. Definitely an A, though it's hard for me to imagine a situation where I would watch it again.

If the disquieting power of both Hunger and Shame did not achieve this before, the emergence of Steve McQueen as one of the boldest and most important living directors is more than solidified by 12 Years a Slave, a character driven historical epic and the best film produced to date on the subject of the slave trade in the American South. Based on a true story, the film is adapted from a memoir by Solomon Northup, a freeman and musician who is abducted while traveling in Washington, D.C., given a new name, and set southward by boat. There, he is sold more than once and toils for the gain of many masters, including at cotton and sugarcane plantations. An often undervalued British actor with sensitive and soulful eyes, Chiwetel Ejiofor quietly and strongly anchors the film as Solomon, capturing the once proud and urbane man's mental transformation over the course of his enslavement as he becomes part of the violent tapestry of the South, leaving behind fantasies of escape and illusions of superiority in order to survive.

His co-stars also shine; most of the deserved laurels and songs of praise will go to Michael Fassbender as a a raging, (self-)destructive plantation owner and the fresh faced Lupita Nyong'o as the slave girl whom he desires and savages in equal measure, but not a single performance is unconvincing, and even actors with a small amount of screen time, including co-producer Brad Pitt as a benevolent Canadian day laborer introduced in the third act, leave an impact. Though the film, with its authentic costume and production design and atmospheric on-location photography in the South, has a certain big-budget finesse absent from Hunger and Shame, McQueen remains a director devoted to training his camera on harsh bodily experiences and not giving the audience the luxury of a comforting reprieve. One indelible and thoughtful composition finds a bloodied and sweating Solomon hanging from a tree, his toes barely touching the ground, while the other slaves (fearful and subjugated, of course) perform their duties and routines behind him, only one briefly pausing to give him water. With this single shot, a case-in-point example of the film's ferocious genius, the director conveys not only the in-the-moment physical torment endured by Solomon, but also the broad and disturbing absurdity of a place where justice is absent and the human condition is decomposing.

A

Regarding Magnus' complaints, I believe the ending, including the speed with which his time as a slave ends, is perfect on two counts:

- This is not a story of on-the-run escape, and there is a certain jolt to how easily he is freed after so many years of fear and pain. Early in the film, on the boat, he says they just need to find a sympathetic ear, and he does. A decade and two years later. A few filed papers and a few conversations later, and he is free again. It is nothing spectacular, yet it is, particularly relative to the scope and ferocity of his experience.

- The scene where he enters his home to reunite with his wife and now adult children, whom we also have not glimpsed since the start of the film, is a forceful reminder of the time he has lost. This more than compensates for the way time collapses and blurs during the scenes in the South.

I just realized I completely forgot to put my review in.

12 Years A Slave is an incredible film. The acting is top notch and I see it as almost a lock for 2/4 of the acting awards. The cinematography was one of the highlights of the film for me and its very well filmed with an inspiring story. The story had the ability to keep me engaged throughout. For me, this really felt like The Shawshank Redemption in terms of the viewer being so completely invested in the characters' outcomes. This is a very heavy film, but its not like the usual 2.5, 3 hour historical pieces. This is a human story told so well that the audience feels indebted to the filmmakers to have had the opportunity to hear it. If there was a small thing I think could be improved, some of the ensemble cast didn't seem very necessary. The story I especially wanted to hear (more about how Pitt moves everything into motion) we don't hear much about. I understand why the director made that choice, but I would have liked to have heard more there. It is my favourite movie of the year (yes, over even Gravity). I haven't seen Steve McQueen's other films, but will definitely check them out as he is a very capable director who truly made this a special film that won't be forgotten anytime soon.

9/10

12 Year A Slave is a simplistic and manipulative movie. It is torture porn disguised as social justice document. It is insultingly shallow and jarringly inept.

Graceless and disgraceful.


1 out of 5.

Most obvious review in the history of www.worldofkj.com? Bradley does it again.

Quiet, Chip. Everyone else only likes it because of groupthink!