Insert Emotions Here.

Rating: Null/10 (4 February 2017)

Just before I lower my hand towards my keyboard, I wonder to myself. Am I about to write a review or simply a statement about my disappointment in others? In any case I feel the need to mention It's been a long time since I saw 12 Years a slave. Although I've tried several times to revisit, It's been too painful for me to do so. And the conclusion I bare is that it is for all the wrong reasons.
With the exception of Paul Dano's appearance in 12 years a slave, there's really not that much effort to salute. The film contains a long, repetitive, slow-paced series of scenes bombarded with torture and dullness. Whether the monologue, the sudden appearance of American "heroes" or the actual physical torture of black people, It's quite frankly just the same. Surprisingly enough, for the popular audience and the Academy, the blatant manipulative sob-structure actually works like a charm. As the (what feels like Satantango-length-ed) 12 years a' bored claimed endless praise and affection. Even so much that it became the winner of the biggest competition (eh?) of them all in the film industry. The Oscars became the Eurovision Song Contest and the world was just about to deem Only God Forgives a "bad film".
I have a distant memory of a scene where the main characters life hangs by a thread as he's hung to a tree by a hangman's noose. It was a perfectly decent scene polluted by the previous and those to come. Unfortunately, 12 years a slave reminds me all too much of The shawshank redemption and all the boredom, dullness and manipulation the audience had to endure. Much like Kubrick, Steve Mcqueen and the man *presumably* that made Shawshank, borrows the art/tricks of the commercial industry in cinema. However, the difference in usage makes for a discrepancy of monumental magnitude. A couple of years later I'm left with one question: Did 12 years a slave have a narrator? Because it sure felt like it did.
3/10 For Dano, the scenery and effort.