Lost City of Z (2017)

Writer/director James Grey's The Lost City of Z got a lot of buzz when it came out and has had some staying power as we reach the end of 2017 and some are still mentioning it among the best of the year. It's one of those films that no one saw but anyone who did said it was great. Finally having watch it I can say it was alright, my lack of enthusiasm for seeing it when it was in theatres carried through to a lack of real enthusiasm when I was watching it. The film, it's story, the performances in it, and the overall messages of the movie were all fine. They just did nothing to excite or engage me.

The The Lost City of Z has a very classic feel to it. It reminded me of films like The Mission, Greystoke, Passage to India. It is richly filmed and rather economically told. Grey's approach is grandiose yet straight forward. But it all comes down to the fact that his colonialist heroes, no matter how sympathetic to the "noble savages" they may be, remain as uninteresting as privileges colonialists tend to be. Sure there is a romance in this story or wondering whether or not the real life heroes survived this adventure and lived in another part of the world for their remaining years. But to be honest, I grow less and less interested in the white man's burden stories.

Still, for what it is, The Lost City of Z is very well done. I struggle to take Charlie Hunnam seriously in any film I see him in as I find his performances wooden and uninspiring. Grey makes sure his film is beautiful regardless. He perhaps oversimplifies the "debate" going on here, a debate which feels like it was put there to make the white colonialist protagonist more heroic, and less there to actually explore the issue. The real hook is the mystery, the romance. My main problem with this technically well made film is that the mystery and romance never hooked me.

So for me The Lost City of Z is worth watching if you are already interested or just looking for something to watch. I wouldn't recomend you go out of your way to see it.

The Lost City of Z
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Tom Holland, Ian McDairmond
Writer/director: James Grey