Not a day goes by in the United States without someone being killed by direct or indirect gunfire. And yet, everything, apparently, in that great country, flows under an apparent normality. On the contrary, the possession, use and abuse of handguns, rifles, machine guns is sometimes invoked as right and necessary just as an amendment to their Constitution requires. Exactly in these terms reads "Everything is as it seems" the subtitle of Suburbicon , the film just released in theaters signed by George Clooney to whom we dedicate the usual review on movies coming out on the weekend. The screenplay, however, is signed by the Coen brothers and it shows! The filmmakers trademark of Fargo, It is not a country for old people it is evident and does not betray expectations: the hard and pure violence that humans are able to exercise in its most evident forms and beyond all imagination.
The events described in the film are taken from real events in the 50s, when the issues and tensions caused by racial discrimination in the United States were particularly strong. In a model town, all neat houses and pints and social tranquility, a black family arrives and the local community sees its own little garden of security and guarantee of well-being threatened. All hell breaks loose on the streets but also within a seemingly normal family. A criminal plot sets in motion a chain of limitless horrors where it is difficult to understand where good and evil are.
Cloney proposes a strong social film, a representation of cultural, anthropological fiction, which still governs not only many parts of the world but also internal family relationships which often lead to total violence. The film takes place precisely on these two parallel and contemporary levels: on the one hand the violence against the black family, on the other the ferocious and bloody story in the home of the protagonists (Matt Damon and Julianne Moore). The economic reason is not indifferent in both scenarios: in the first the inhabitants of Suburbicom see their real estate investment threatened, in the second the premium of a substantial insurance is at stake.
The film is seen willingly even without particular emotions. The screenplay is well set and the times flow in a balanced way. The surreal and sometimes cartoonish and paradoxical effect wanted by the Coens makes the vision appreciable, even if it refers to highly dramatic sequences and moments.
Ps: this week the review of I stop when I want Ad Honorem, the third installment of the well-known and celebrated film signed by the young director Sidney Sibilia. Reluctantly we gave up so as not to detract from the merits of the first title in the series which brought luck to the film. Both in the first episode the novelty, creativity and fun were strong and engaging, but instead, both in the second and in this last episode, it bordered on boredom and banality. A sin of presumption that can be forgiven because the numbers are there and it is legitimate to expect more.
