I don't know much about James Dean, so I can only comment on the movie and having seen it, it's two hours of performance pieces from Pattinson, still trying to clean the Twilight stigma off his name, and DeHaan, wanting to get out of the casting hole for a mentally unstable person in which he has found himself. Both of them did a great job.
Yet the script is slow moving through the subtle interaction between the two characters, happening just before James Dean became truly famous. Anyone expecting Hollywood shenanigans and bad boy theatrics is going to be disappointed. Instead, we are treated to two young men who are just beginning to figure out who they really are and tie a temporary bond a friendship over their shared confusion and the pressure of the world for them to be something else.
A beautiful movie, but one that shows only a glimpse of who Jimmy was and nothing spectacular or shocking. It is a "life" film, as my mother used to call these things, and therefore not appropriately entertaining for everyone.
Yet the script is slow moving through the subtle interaction between the two characters, happening just before James Dean became truly famous. Anyone expecting Hollywood shenanigans and bad boy theatrics is going to be disappointed. Instead, we are treated to two young men who are just beginning to figure out who they really are and tie a temporary bond a friendship over their shared confusion and the pressure of the world for them to be something else.
A beautiful movie, but one that shows only a glimpse of who Jimmy was and nothing spectacular or shocking. It is a "life" film, as my mother used to call these things, and therefore not appropriately entertaining for everyone.