The Forgiven (2022) Movie Drinking Game
Do a Shot: every time Abbey Lee appears and then disappears again,
Take a Drink: every time something racist is said.
Do a Shot: any time a fossil is shown.
Take a Drink: for every night drive.
Pound a Beer: for this not so subtle film.
By: Movie Snurb (Three Beers) –
David (Ralph Fiennes) and Jo Henninger (Jessica Chastain) are a married couple on the rocks. They’re on vacation in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, going to a weekend party at a friend’s house out in the desert. While on their way and driving at night they hit a young Moroccan boy who is trying to sell a fossil. They bring the boy to the party and call the authorities. When the father is notified he requests that Fiennes come back and help bury his son.
A Toast
To no one’s surprise Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain are great. Giving life to a film that at times feels lifeless, they bring their characters alive and make them feel like a real couple anyone might know in real life. Hopefully no one knows a couple like this, but unfortunately they do exist.
Matt Smith is also great as Richard Galloway, the smug party host who seems to care about the local people, really the only one who cares. He keeps his cards close to his chest, not letting the audience in on what he thinks or believes. Is he doing this because he respects the locals, or because he doesn’t want to catch the bad publicity? We won’t know and it’s a tribute to Matt’s performance. He also injects life into a film that again at times feels asleep.
The film is gorgeous to look at. Everyone is lit to look impeccable, except Fiennes, but that feels intentional. Larry Smith captures the vast Moroccan desert along with the excess of Matt Smith’s home, everything and everyone in his house. At times the film looks like two different films while cutting between the local’s home and Mr. Galloway’s home, highlighting the disparity between the two communities.
Beer Two
I saw on Letterboxd someone refer to this film as The White Lotus: Morocco. Which is a pretty apt description. Though this film is based on a novel, it feels like a long episode of The White Lotus, but without the humor and complexity. What is the theme to this story? Rich white people suck? The only characters in this film with any kind of depth are Richard Galloway and the Moroccan Father. The film brings no new talking points to the table, and unfortunately the films feels tired and too long.
Beer Three
There are two young actors in here which I find promising and interesting. Caleb Landry Jones (Get Out, Three Billboards) and Abbey Lee (The Neon Demon, Old) are two actors who choose interesting roles and even with the smallest role they leave a memorable impression. I do not know what they are doing in this film. Caleb is going for it in a way that does not work. Abbey’s character doesn’t feel like a real person and she could be cut from the film and it wouldn’t change anything. Every time they come on screen it takes you out of the film because they don’t feel like they belong in the film in the first place.
Verdict
I love watching rich vapid people as much as the next person, but it feels like the film thinks it is deeper than it really is. Not bad, but not good either, just somewhere in the middle.
