Sound and noise, signifying nothing

Rating: 5/10 (21 February 2009)

That this movie earned a spot on so many top ten lists demonstrates just how desperate people are to agree that the emperor does indeed wear clothes, when it's plainly obvious that he's nude.
It is the most meaningless and time-wasting biography of a life that I can recall seeing (although I'm not eager to remember any, so they kind of fade away), and the result is a tedious mind-grinding bore for the viewer.
Maybe this is due to its subject matter, but I'll never know, because the film has so failed to tell me anything worth knowing about its subject, I'm not even curious to know any more. Anything that inspired this mess is clearly to be avoided.
While not as dreadful as Last Days (2005), in that it actually seems to have some vague point in there somewhere about being defined by your creations, it is no less boring and annoying. It's not good just because it's art. It's bad because it's just plain bad.
So, having seen the raised middle finger offered me by director Todd Haynes, I return it right back at him. Somehow, I think that's what was intended.