Critical darling impresses but didn't floor me

Rating: 8/10 (15 December 2013)

Let's just get this out in the open...12 Years A Slave will almost certainly win the Oscar for Best Picture. I'd put every dime on it...99% guaranteed. It has everything the Academy loves. It comes in on the tails of the impressive Django Unchained which was a very different style of slavery story but still shares some common ground. A tale set in the South during the mid-late 1800's seems to me to be an easy spot to write a good story that moves people. 12 Years A Slave does exactly that. It has a few unique ideas in it but at the same time it didn't really bring anything new to the table either. There were some very good performances, very good scenes and a powerful story. It was a great film. Best film of the year? I'm not entirely sure. I felt like some of the sexual scenes were forced and gratuitous and unnecessary. I also understand what they were trying to convey with some of these scenes. 12 Years A Slave does one of the best jobs I've ever seen of making you understand the intense humiliation of slavery. The story is very different given this is about a free man from the North who is kidnapped and sold into Southern slavery. Its a terrifying idea and the things he must go through will move you. This is a film that puts you firmly in the shoes of a man forced into slavery and every humiliating aspect. He is an educated, intelligent family man forced into this condition and its hard to watch at times.
Chiwetel Ejiofor is our lead character. He is good in the role and certainly conveys a lot of different emotions and is very believable in the part. I have no beef with his performance at all. At the same time I wasn't blown away by him. There was one particular performance better in the film than him and he was great but I don't think it was a mind blowing performance. He will certainly get an Oscar nomination but I'm just not sure he deserves to win. In her film debut Lupita Nyong'o is very impressive. Her character is literally tortured and humiliated throughout the film more than any other and watching her is gut wrenching. She is a very talented actor and she shines in a very hard role. Her chemistry with Ejiofor is very good and she deserves her accolades, especially for her first big screen role. I think the best performances in this movie came from the supporting cast. Michael Fassbender is stunning...he is stunning in the way that I expected Ejiofor to be. Fassbender's drunken, religious fanatic, slave owner is twisted and electric and demented. Its an Oscar worthy performance to say the least. Sarah Paulson's smaller role as his wife is also noteworthy because I thought she was amazing too in the few scenes she had. Benedict Cumberbatch is very good as Ford, of the slave owners but one who tries to treat Northrup with some form of respect. Paul Dano is amazing as one of Ford's overseers. Dano has maybe ten or fifteen minutes on screen and is absolutely memorable. Brad Pitt also makes an appearance in a small role near the end of the film. He produced the movie and I'm not sure he should have given himself a role. I very much like Brad Pitt and I think he's a terrific actor but whether he likes it or not he's a mega superstar and its distracting to see him suddenly show up 3/4 of the way through the film. He doesn't particularly impress and its a small role.
Steve McQueen sort of began to get noticed with Hunger and then Fassbender's last big critical darling "Shame" which I have yet to see. McQueen creates an epic feel to the film but sometimes I think he forgets we need to understand the world they live in and not just the horrific things happening to them. I expected more emotion to some of the characters and I mean there is no doubting some of the more powerful scenes but this is such an incredible story and such a hard subject that it required something more. It is a great movie but for all the hype and the fact that it is likely to watch away with the best picture of the year...it needs more. It is however much better than last year's Argo so I can live with its status. Absolutely see this film because it is important and well made and well acted. A very important historical movie. 8.5/10