' Parkland ' ( 2013) Movie Review - Toronto Film Festival

' Parkland ' ( 2013) Movie Review - Toronto Film Festival

One movie that only takes 93 minutes , Parkland was not less than 120 minutes . The story is about the events surrounding President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, the film gets its name from Parkland Memorial Hospital where Kennedy was taken immediately after the shot . Instead of checking the overall event , Parkland chose to focus on the less talked about contributors to this story , the doctors at the hospital , the family Lee Harvey Oswald , the Secret Service and others. Unfortunately , very little of it feels new or even reveal as much as I was sitting there saying to myself , " Yup , someone shot and it seems only natural doctor will be the one to try and save him . " And so it goes .

Narrative introduces us to Abraham Zapruder ( Paul Giamatti ) , the man who captured what very well may have recorded the most watched ever , Zac Efron and Colin Hanks play doctor Parkland Memorial Marcia Gay Harden , while playing a head nurse . We meet the Oswalds , Lee Harvey ( Jeremy Strong ) , his brother Robert ( James Badge Dale ) and mother ( Jacki Weaver ) , Billy Bob Thornton as the Dallas Secret Service Agent Forrest Sorrels , and Ron Livingston as James Hosty , the FBI agent tracking actual Oswald over the last year .

This is a big and strong player and a lot of characters to juggle . Heading to the theater capture the idea of ​​the story of so many different angles sounds very interesting , but the final product feels cheap and amateur . I do not know if it's fair , but the lack of energy and overall average properties of Parkland feel burdened best on the shoulders of first time feature director Peter Landesman .

Landesman , best known for the controversial 2004 " New York Times " article , also wrote the screenplay , which wastes little time into the story . Eager to see the President rolling through the streets outside his office , Zapruder rushed out with his camera . The motorcade turned the corner and soon all we hear is what sounds like a trio of tiny clicks . Zapruder shout and we learned Kennedy had been shot .

I 'm sure it was intentional , since the film is set to focus on characters other than Kennedy and vice versa everyone around him is affected by the shooting , but to minimize the horror of the day so that seemed odd to me .

Walk to Parkland , we know the President would be shot . We know it is the focal point of this movie , even if the question is the focus of everyone but Kennedy . However , murder is still in the middle of the story . So , to turn it into a bit a few beans and Giamatti running around screaming , " They shot him ! They shot him ! " Did not sell at the slightest. So , since the beginning of this film feels small . Landesman does not do anything to build scenarios , and he also failed to provide a real sense of the amount of time passes and in which geographic everything as we blindly bouncing from one location to the next .

The first ten minutes or so were spent introducing us to everyone and everywhere the story will take place , but there is no real " in between " . We were told Parkland Memorial just a few minutes from where Kennedy was shot , but geography is not clear , and even more so after we saw it and it seems to be in the middle of nowhere . It's clear Zapruder 's office is right there in Dealey Plaza , but we do not know how close to real . The scene just move from one location to the next , and while we know where we are at any time , in which only the name , nothing more .

There was a point in the movie where one of the characters says something like , " What a terrible place to die . " This pathway would work if the city had some sort of identity . Just like the characters , this town has no identity . I get the impression I was watching a movie well researched , but the audience is not privy to any Landesman learned while putting the story together .

Parkland wants to focus on what the official synopsis calls " unexceptional people struggling to survive and achieve extraordinary heroism time " . However , people never focus because we do not know them , we just know them by their work . Efron is not the character of Dr. Jim Carrico , he's just a doctor . Thornton was a Secret Service agent , instead of Forrest Sorrels and so on . Some characters , thankfully , does not stand out and make sure the film is not a total disaster .

James Badge Dale as brothers Oswald and Jacki Weaver as her mother took part to one of the characters is really given enough time to be considered character . Oswald family alone would make the movie better . Oswald mystery to the alleged killer , who still believes his brother sister and mother did odd that confirms he was an American spy . If Oliver Stone ever want to go back to JFK region LHO features are waiting in the wings .

Also , in terms of emotional resonance and memorable moments , I have to give respect to the treatment of Jackie Onassis ' character here . Shock they experienced perceived and easily the best film has to offer in terms of smoothness . Just as the film can be focused on Oswalds alone , with some reshoots could actually be all about Jackie as the majority of the characters feel like nothing more than extra pay more anyway .

Overall, there is little nugget attraction here , but in the end this was a " ho hummer " . Proximity of the film is lost when the decision was made to keep the murder from the screen and could never get back on track .