Truly exceptional film-making, Jessica Chastain becomes a star

Rating: Null/10 (4 January 2013)

Zero Dark Thirty was one of my most anticipated of the year for many reasons. First, I loved The Hurt Locker and it's probably my favorite recent Best Picture winner. Secondly, Jessica Chastain, an actress that broke out in 2011 with several fantastic performances, was starring in it, her first true lead role. This would be a role that would, essentially, define the rest of her career.
The film has been raved about quite a bit, but one thing was certain based on reviews, and that was that it was very much a journalists' films, presenting information and information about countless of attempts to get closer to Bin Laden. Because of this, I did expect exactly what I got from it and from Chastain. A film like this is definitely not going to be loved by the mainstream that want something a little more "dramatic". I'm quite surprised it's gotten the level of acclaim The Hurt Locker got, because fortunately, it stands on its own. This isn't the showy technical film Hurt Locker was, not the showy directorial film that was. But its gripping all the way through to the final act, which is among the best things I've seen all year. There's not much to say for it except that one has to surrender to what the film is and not ask for what it isn't. I already expected it would be what it was so I wasn't surprised or disappointed, but I can see many people dismissing this.
I am quite surprised Chastain has gotten so many critic wins for this performance though. It's just not meaty in the slightest, meaty in the sense of drama or any real character-arc that defines awards. I wasn't even sure I would want her to win anything for this during most of the film. But in her last scenes, her performance comes together. I realized just how much Chastain had done with, arguably, so little. There are tons of supporting performances that have a lot more to do when it comes to dramatic stakes, but Chastain makes it work with her face. The best thing that can be said about her is that there are not many actresses that would be able to make this character work as well as she did. The emotional baggage she carries underneath without ever having anything to show in terms of dramatic satisfaction, and the way she lures you to the screen, proves that she has a powerful presence. Even with how detached the film is from her character in terms of not really digging into her most of the time, it's her film. It's her face that haunts you by the end of it when you realize just how much she did. If you weren't sure about it before, this marks the beginning of a true star.
This is a film that I see haunting my subconscious more and more and that will refuse to leave my mind. Another jackpot for Bigelow and Boal? Definitely.