Movie Review: Blonde (2022) - Under The Radar Books.

Blonde (2022)

Directed by:

Andrew Dominik

Synopsis.

WATCHED BY ALL, SEEN BY NONE.

From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, this reimagined fictional portrait of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves.

The Review.

If you didn’t watch Blonde this past weekend then you were probably watching DAHMER. I excuse you and your misdirection but let’s course correct and talk about the striking new movie adaptation titled BLONDE. Based on the book by Joyce Carol Oates, Directed by Andrew Dominik and produced in part by Brad Pitt. Streaming on Netflix. I can’t help but think of the point the movie is making about exploitation. And wonder if I am an integral part of that very exploitation and if this film is just one in a long line of many such exploits. If there is a lesson here, that is it. It is both in spectacle and in sadness that I watch Blonde. Bouncing between the two, sometimes reveling in both. Norma Jeane begins her life in less fortunate circumstances. A child born to a single mother who not only despised her but loathed her existence. Gladys Pearl Baker, a woman afflicted by unknown mental health conditions, at some point was hospitalized, leaving Norma Jeane to fend for herself. An orphan-but much of that time in foster care is skipped over. Sometimes the beginning is where it starts. The movie continues on to her early years awakening in front of the camera to her very early days acting in small up-and-coming roles. We watch as a slow dissociation happens-as you, the viewer witnesses her separating her alias of Marilyn Monroe from her tattered self-Ms. Norma Jeane. That dissociation is hard to watch. It goes on to follow her through tumultuous times and we watch an escalation of deterioration. It ends as her life did. The only end to the story there will ever be. There were times that I was drawn out of the experience by a fumbling line or two by Ana de Armas, But overall I was captivated by Armas’ presence and on-screen malleability. I enjoyed the movie and recommend it with a warning: The story is sad and your participation in the exploitation as a viewer of the movie is sadder. Rating…⭐️⭐️⭐️