Brace Yourselves - The Awards Are Coming!

Rating: 7/10 (19 October 2013)

Aaaaaand the Oscar goes to Chiwetel Ejiofor. He did an amazing job in "12 Years A Slave." Really outstanding. The movie as a whole....7/10. I think I would have scored it much higher if it had a different director. Steve McQueen's style just doesn't work for me. If you're a fan of his other films, you'll probably like this one. I have a feeling he had final cut approval of this film, and it really shows. It desperately needed an editor. A much tighter narrative would have been significantly more moving.
The dialogue was unusually awkward for a film of this caliber - it ripped me right out of the story. The scenes of brutality were very difficult to watch, but that was the point. The film definitely made me want to read the book (to which it is supposed to be very faithful). There was some unnecessary creation of inflammatory, fictitious dialogue which is unfortunate because the real story is damning enough.
The acting was mostly good (Chiwetel was fantastic, as mentioned above). Michael Fassbender's transformation into a cruel slave master was remarkable and chilling. He'll most likely win for Best Supporting Actor. Benedict Cumberbatch was great, as always. There were a bunch of really, really odd casting choices, though, that, again, ripped me from the story. Taran Killam (SNL), Garret Dillahunt (Raising Hope), Brad Pitt in a five- minute cameo. I understand that comedians often want to transfer to more dramatic roles, but I really think their addition to a production of this weighty subject matter was a huge mistake.
This isn't a movie you'll enjoy seeing, but if you're a fan of the cautionary tales of history and want to see a relatively faithful adaptation of a horrifying true story set in the pre-abolition US, then I think you'll benefit from seeing this film.