"Suburbicon" Is A
Sickathon...A One-Star Turkey And
A Staggeringly Cruel Film From A Man Who's Just Been Gifted
Fatherhood...
Maybe it's my age (I'm
approaching 60) or maybe it's because we have a son with special needs that
makes me wretch to my core at the sight of cruelty to children – especially
scared and vulnerable ones. But penned by the normally reliable Cohen Brothers
- "Suburbicon" is a nauseating and incredibly indulgent film with sickening
cruelty towards the child in the lead role.
Directed by George Clooney -
who at his late age has been gifted with two gorgeous kids - it's difficult to
square that peg as you watch the child's reaction when his family and loved
ones are either wiped out for money or turn out to be worse monsters than the
white racist killers. It’s genuinely disturbing to think that Mister
carefully-cultivated Nice Guy Image Directed this ludicrous and incredibly
nasty movie.
Then there is the
unbelievable side story of a young black family recently moved into a
fictitious Pleasantville kind of American Town called "Suburbicon"
who are then systematically tormented by a whole gaggle of stereotypical
rednecks – a plotline that is never given a satisfying conclusion – or worse –
seems to take glee in the premise.
But it’s the cruelty that
lies behind almost every scene - cruelty to women – to children – to race. Is
this the same George Clooney everyone admires? I don't know what he was
thinking when he made this odious little dog - but I hope his kids don’t have to
sit through Daddy's embarrassing steaming pile one day and explain to their
multi-racial friends what darling Papa was on about.
We genuinely need to stop
appeasing actors and celebrities and ask why no one has questioned GC on the
point of this film? Why has no one in the UK or US media questioned the
Hollywood A-lister on its content? Or why talk-show hosts across Europe and the
World don't question Tom Cruise on the Cult of Scientology that they know
destroys young people's minds for monetary gain? How no one at the BBC knew
what lovely Jimmy Saville was doing to innocents for over three decades? No one
in ‘Media’ on either side of the pond wants to rock the boat with their
lucrative careers or put a kibosh on their junkie-need for fame. That’s why.
That's how crap like this got made – no one said enough – said no – nor wants
to confront the wrong after it’s been unleashed into the public domain.
In some respects and being
truthful here – I can't articulate why I'm so revolted by this film (can't
abide cruelty as a badge of cool?). But I can say that after
"Suburbicon" - I won't look at a George Clooney film in the same way
ever again...
