The Goldfinch 2019

     This film is based on a 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Donna Tartt.  Theodore Decker is thirteen year old boy living in New York City.  He is with his mother and she is killed in a terrorist bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Theodore is standing in front of the famous painting The Goldfinch.  He is shocked and confused in the rubble after the bombing.  He puts the painting into his book bag and he takes it with him when he exits the Museum.  A wealthy Upper East Side family brings him into their home to live with them after the bombing.  Theo Decker’s life is turned upside-down by the loss of this mother. 

     There are upsetting images after the bombing including additional violence, child abuse and playing with guns.  There is a LOT of smoking plus drug and alcohol abuse by adults and teens.  A scene demonstrates how to cut up prescription drugs to intensify a high.  There is also plenty of strong language, betrayals, lying, gambling and the idea of a person as good or bad.  All of the above do have consequences.   I thought this film was overly long??  The different directions and the people in Theodore's life are interesting.  There are some twists and turns that I didn't see coming!!  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)
         
149 min, Drama directed by John Crowley and written by Peter Straughan and Donna Tartt with Oakes Fegley, Ansel Elfort, Nicole Kidman, Jeffrey Wright, Luke Wilson, Sarah Paulson, Willa Fitzgerald, Aneurin Barnard, Finn Wolfhard, Ashleigh Cummings, Aimee Laurence, Robert Joy, Boyd Ganes, Carley Connors, Luke Kleintank.

Note:  Imdb 6.2 out of 10 with 12,540 reviews, Common Sense Media Tara McNamara, age 16+, 2* positive messages, 3* role models, 4* violence, 2* sex, 4* language, 1* consumerism, 5* drinking drugs & smoking.

Special Note:  This is the first film directed by Finn Wolfhard that isn’t a horror film or a comedy.  There is a mistake when Theo writes a letter on notepaper from “Hotel Sluys” in Amsterdam.  This is the English spelling of the Dutch town of Sluis and it would never have been spelled with a y in the Netherlands.