Live by Night

This is going to be a fairly short review because this film just wasn't for me. I can imagine it would have been a good watch for a lot of people, but personally, I found it kind of dull...

The movie follows Ben Affleck's character as he gets caught up in a life of crime during the Prohibition Era. Aaand that's where my synopsis ends. I could attempt to write out a full outline of the plot but in all honesty I'd struggle and have to resort to plagiarising imdb.com. As a rule, I seem to find gangster/mob movies quite hard to follow. Is it just me?! I don't know if it's a lack of concentration or if I'm just a bit dim (most likely a combination of the two). I just find that I lose interest during all the "talking about dodgy dealings/business" scenes and my mind wanders on to other things and then before I know it I'm back in the movie and someone's died and I have no idea who. Anyway, this was basically a load of men shooting a load of other men, often at close range, in the face. Nice.

So, did I enjoy anything about this movie? I did like the costumes and I thought some of the sets were impressive. The women were very beautiful and glamorous looking. I found myself admiring Sienna Miller's hair and make up rather than actually listening to the dialogue. That's one thing I noticed throughout the movie actually - the fact that the women were portrayed as these beautiful (almost ethereal in Elle Fanning's case) beings. But that was kind of... it. I would have liked to have seen more from the female characters rather than them just being a sort of footnote to all the men. Elle Fanning's character seemed kind of interesting but the lingering, extreme close ups on her face all the time were a little strange and I felt, unnecessary.

This was a completely forgettable movie for me and definitely not one I could watch again. I booked it as it was a Cineworld Unlimited screening and I do like taking advantage of those, but otherwise I'm not sure if I would have chosen to watch this.

My rating (based on my own enjoyment of the movie, taking into account this just is not my thang): 2/5 ★