Friday, 31 October 2014

GONE GIRL: Miss it…and you will miss it! [4/5]

She is a Type A. She is a decorated scholar, bright and kind in personality. 5 years in the institution called marriage and still, you wouldn’t notice a single line of discontentment on her highly proud forehead. She is the ‘amazing Amy’ her proud parents has based their bedtime-story series on. She herself is a writer with almost no friends in the quite friendlier town of Missouri. She is missing from her house, under suspicious circumstances. 

He is a Type B. He is a writer too but the mean times of recession have had him quite bad. His double-chinned face has a villainous impression, according to his wife of 5 years. He’s lethargically casual, wittily complaining and looks hardly convinced about his wife & marriage. He is the prime suspect behind his wife’s disappearance, possibly murdered by now.

David Fincher is back in theatres with GONE GIRL- a relentlessly engaging missing-drama that never approves you sitting quietly through any of its chain of events. The incredulity in the character you had just made likeable to you and your own sense of judgment getting activated soon after the air gets clear keeps you in an unsettling mood & mode of ‘What might have happened?’ to ‘What actually has happened?”.

Adapted for the screen from the bestselling novel by screenwriter Gillian Flynn, GONE GIRL is more of a psychological drama than a crime-thriller. One fine morning on his Fifth marriage anniversary, Nick [Messily cool & composed Ben Affleck] returns to his home to find his wife Amy [Mysteriously ‘a treat-to-eyes’ Rosamund Pike] missing. Before the local detectives [Kim Dickens plays one of the two] could actually give the investigation a demanding pace comes the frenzied whirl of media to cover the story. It takes no time to trace the disrespect, missing love, dishonesty and the tense-air between the two in the married life. Rest follows the twisted plot, diverse perspectives to events and a layer-on-layer dissection of the most researched and widely conversed social school of commitment i.e. marriages!

Taking from the original work of fiction, David creates a parallel narrative of one in present with Nick getting plunged into the proceedings of investigation, while the other goes back in regular intervals to revisit the good old times of romance blooming in the air. David successfully hammers on the role of media and the broaden technology juicing the best they want. When the mother announces a dedicated website & hotline number to find any clue of her missing daughter, you sure find yourself in the midst of generous giggling and joining it with equal force.

With a haunting background score and commendably cinematographed scenes, GONE GIRL gels well with absolutely in-sync performances of Affleck and Pike both. Affleck with his paunchy, weathered, sluggish look and the contagious resilience in attitude delivers his most pitiable yet pretentious character on screen. Pike surprises you with the most being unforeseen and undercover due to the twists in the plot. I wish I could unravel more to add more to illustrate her part here. In short and sweet, it’s a stellar.

And the final word on the film! GONE GIRL is one the best thrillers, this year! No doubt on that. The duration and the pace could sure make you shifting eyes from the screen but the finesse in the storytelling and the craftsmanship involved will pay you back of your every single penny spent on it. Missing this ‘Missing Story’ is not at all recommended! [4/5] 

No comments:

Post a Comment