Suburbicon is a movie that tried to say to much in to little.
Suburbicon is a dark comedy movie starting Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Noah Jupe, and Oscar Isaac. It is about a seemingly normal suburban family who’s lives get set into a spiral after some robbers comes in and murders the wife of Gardner Lodge. Directed by George Clooney and produced by the Cohen brothers, it falls short from being a masterpiece due to pacing issues, unbelievable plot, and two stories that are both occurring at the same time but seem to have no relation to each other.
Pacing is a major issue in Suburbicon. The murder of Rose Lodge ( Julianne Moore) in the beginning of the movie was abrupt and jarring. I found myself rewinding the scene to see if I missed any major plot points that led to this sudden killing but there was none. The plot decided to advance the story without paying attention to if it flowed correctly. This is a common trait throughout the movie where the story progresses so fast from plot point to plot point that it comes off as jumbled and awkward. Oscar Isaac’s character is thrown into the movie for five minutes in order to progress the plot but it comes off as unbelievable, another example of a forced segment to get near the ending. Overall the pacing of the movie seems like they were aiming for a under two hour run time and decided to cut some scenes.
The plot comes off as cheesy and awkward . Characters are thrown in and out of each others story arcs which makes you confused on who you should be paying attention to and if you should care about them or not. Also a lot of characters experience complete personality changes throughout the movie that makes it feel like you are not even watching the same character even though it’s only been five minutes since their last scene.
While the Lodge family’s lives are unfolding another story coincides with it, that of the Mayers family. The Mayers are a African American family that moves into suburbicon. There story deals with issue revolving around White flight and racial tension in the 1950s. The biggest issue with the introduction of this family is that is has absolutely nothing to do with the main storyline. The Mayers family isn’t used as a symbol or to help progress the plot, they are just merely there. The gist of the Mayers family existing in suburbicon is that, white people in the 1950s are racist and evil towards African Americans, which was already a given. It was very disappointing to see that the Mayers family, like many characters, really had no purpose and were just elements in the background.
A positive of the movie was the cinematography and set pieces. There were numerous times watching Suburbicon where I was mesmerized by the shot progression and found myself wishing that the plot was better because of it. The set pieces were also very well done. The 1950s aesthetic was visually appealing and believable that this perfect little town existed a la pleasantville.
Overall, Suburbicon was a under two hour movie that should of been two and a half hours. This would of fixed the pacing issues and could of helped focus on other side stories to really draw out the plot. There was so many good characters in this movie ruined by the fact that they didn’t have enough time to talk.
