The Lost City of Z USA 2016 – 141min.

Movie Rating

The Lost City of Z

Movie Rating: Geoffrey Crété

England, 1906. Crushed by his problematic family heritage, Percival Harrison Fawcett struggles to achieve the proper rank within society. When the Royal Geographical Society of England proposes he go to Amazonia to map the borders between Brazil and Bolivia, he accepts, convinced that he will gain value in the eyes noble society. He leaves behind his son Jack and his wife Nina, discovering dangerous territories still unexplored by Europeans. He comes back changed by his journey and obsessed by one thing: finding a mythical jungle city that he calls Z...

James Gray has been trying to make The Lost City of Z, for years, first with Brad Pitt and then Benedict Cumberbatch attached to play the lead. The adaptation of the book by Davdi Grann from the acclaimed director of We Own the Night and Two Lovers has been highly anticipated. The result is certainly brilliantly filmed and lit, with good performances, but it lacks the passion that is at the heart of the novel. Because of the very complex narrative that divides the main character’s back story from his quest, The Lost City of Z struggles to build on Fawcett’s destructive zeal and actually film the magic of the Amazon. It's hard not to think of Werner Herzog's classic Aguirre, and it’s hard not to say that James Gray has missed a fantastic opportunity.

20.02.2024

3

Your rating

Comments

You have to sign in to submit comments.

Login & Signup

More movie reviews

Mansfield Park

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Blood Simple

Almost Famous