this was fine, enjoyable to watch. kinnear is perfect and defoe is great. it’s pretty much the standard cautionary tale of overindulgence - revel in the vice for the first 2 acts, then they learn their lesson in the last. it’s a bit underdeveloped as far as its own morality. twice i think crane says ‘i’m normal’ but they don’t really explore what he thought of himself beyond those parts. was he deluded? does the film think he’s normal too? whatever themes they bring up don’t drive the scenes - they just pop up at random times. most of the time it’s just a document, which i appreciated more.
the dream sequences and the narration always felt out of place and unnatural. otherwise it was fine for me stylistically. it had some nostalgia for the times without being too annoying.
