The Goldfinch
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: September 13, 2019
6.8
USER SCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 87 Ratings
USER RATING DISTRIBUTION
Positive:
51
Mixed:
23
Negative:
13
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User Reviews

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10
Nado97Sep 14, 2019
SHAME ON YOU CRITICS! We will never get these “prestige” films made by Hollywood. Attacking the film like this is pathetic; childish and down-right selfish. This shows again how vestigial you guys are and actually calling death to well madeSHAME ON YOU CRITICS! We will never get these “prestige” films made by Hollywood. Attacking the film like this is pathetic; childish and down-right selfish. This shows again how vestigial you guys are and actually calling death to well made films. Re-think about the ambitions and dreams of the people who worked tirelessly to make the film; then post your ill-advised and hopeless reviews online.… Expand
5 of 6 users found this helpful51
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9
RenderlessSep 14, 2019
Once again the critics have it wrong and the user reviews have it right. This movie isn’t really about the plot and it’s a slow roll to the finish, but the story told is really one of the best this year so far. If you feel like watching anOnce again the critics have it wrong and the user reviews have it right. This movie isn’t really about the plot and it’s a slow roll to the finish, but the story told is really one of the best this year so far. If you feel like watching an artistic movie this will not disappoint.… Expand
3 of 4 users found this helpful31
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9
LizRSep 14, 2019
I loved this movie and I'm surprised at all the low ratings. The acting was great. The cinematography very nice. Having read the book I especially liked it. Which is usually the reverse. I felt the movie captured the spirit of the bookI loved this movie and I'm surprised at all the low ratings. The acting was great. The cinematography very nice. Having read the book I especially liked it. Which is usually the reverse. I felt the movie captured the spirit of the book very well. I'm all for it!… Expand
2 of 3 users found this helpful21
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3
JoshuaaraSep 14, 2019
Excruciatingly boring. Most of the film's characters are unnapealing and dull. The dialogue is sloppy and awkward for most of the film. The interactions with young Boris and Theo are the only scenes that feel genuine and interesting. ThisExcruciatingly boring. Most of the film's characters are unnapealing and dull. The dialogue is sloppy and awkward for most of the film. The interactions with young Boris and Theo are the only scenes that feel genuine and interesting. This film was a waste of 2 hours and 20 minutes of my life… Expand
2 of 3 users found this helpful21
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10
movieViewer325Sep 20, 2019
This move is a touching expression of childhood bonds and experiences actualized in adult life. After watching this you may have a better understanding of you own unconscious mind without needing to attend years of therapy, but maybe not. I'mThis move is a touching expression of childhood bonds and experiences actualized in adult life. After watching this you may have a better understanding of you own unconscious mind without needing to attend years of therapy, but maybe not. I'm so glad I didn't miss this thrilling adaptation of a great novel and I don't read novels. Hard to believe the professional reviewers dissed this gem as I was thinking it should sweep the oscars.… Expand
1 of 2 users found this helpful11
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9
gym33019Sep 16, 2019
Critics are being way to harsh on this movie! This is my favorite book. Furthermore, the audiobook is over 30hrs of narrative perfection. A tall order to live up to when adapting for screen. They did an excellent job! Follows the bookCritics are being way to harsh on this movie! This is my favorite book. Furthermore, the audiobook is over 30hrs of narrative perfection. A tall order to live up to when adapting for screen. They did an excellent job! Follows the book pretty exactly. Sequencing is different, but works well for the screen. I can't imagine that if you like the book, you would be disappointed in the movie. Like any adaptation from book to film, there is a lot more detail in the book, which is very long. However, they did a great job keeping the story together while compressing some scenes fit in the 2.5 hour time frame. A friend went with me to see this, having no knowledge of the book or story....had not even seen a trailer. We were obviously watching from 2 different perspectives. At the end, he said "I LOVED THAT", one of the best movies I've seen.… Expand
1 of 2 users found this helpful11
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10
milabottinoSep 21, 2019
Heart stopping! The score was a delight and the camerawork too! Ansel gives off the empty and resigned sadness of adult Theo, while Oakes portrays his bitter and swallow longing and desperation amazingly well. Finn Wolfard as young BorisHeart stopping! The score was a delight and the camerawork too! Ansel gives off the empty and resigned sadness of adult Theo, while Oakes portrays his bitter and swallow longing and desperation amazingly well. Finn Wolfard as young Boris takes the cake, and the tender moments between Auderin and Ansel are the heart of the story. The trailer made me cry. If so, the movie made me bawl. Excellent work. I don’t understand why the criticism of this movie has spiraled into such nonsense. It seems the critics have chosen a convenient side instead of allowing themselves to think and maybe, for once, feel some human emotion. As I said excellent movie, very moving and thoughtful and messy (but that was as intended).… Expand
1 of 2 users found this helpful11
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10
TgfbtchSep 22, 2019
Give a good rate to this movie or Ansel’s mol Will be in contact.
Anyways, this is such a masterpiece, I don’t get the other critics.
1 of 2 users found this helpful11
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5
LamontRaymondSep 18, 2019
It's certainly not a terrible movie, but it's just big and bloated. Tough to know what to take away from this film other than the eternal power of art and beauty. What I will say is this: the film's use of "Your Silent Face" by New OrderIt's certainly not a terrible movie, but it's just big and bloated. Tough to know what to take away from this film other than the eternal power of art and beauty. What I will say is this: the film's use of "Your Silent Face" by New Order was better than any other film or TV show in history. And that's one incredible song. Lastly, I don't think that they needed Nicole Kidman in that role - she's so austere - any number of actresses cold have done that. It dind't play to her strengths.… Expand
1 of 3 users found this helpful12
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10
OlbeaverSep 13, 2019
Everything about this movie, from the visuals to the acting, is superb! This adaptation is everything and more than what I was expecting!
1 of 3 users found this helpful12
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10
dallasonlineSep 13, 2019
I loved this movie. Suspenseful Thriller. Not sure why it’s getting such bad reviews?
1 of 5 users found this helpful14
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9
duanewilliamsSep 17, 2019
Ignore the professional critics. This is a good film. Perhaps a bit too long, but not by much. All the parts do fit together in the end. The acting is very good.
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
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2
cannnUDec 29, 2019
Way to ruin a great book. I'd like my money back for the movie, total waste of time and terrible attempt.
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
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8
LunalalaOct 3, 2019
The "The Goldfinch" is a great film that really excels in its characters but that might be at the expense of its pacing. The characters are great especially Finn Wolfhard's character "Borris." Finn Wolfhard is such a talented actor and thisThe "The Goldfinch" is a great film that really excels in its characters but that might be at the expense of its pacing. The characters are great especially Finn Wolfhard's character "Borris." Finn Wolfhard is such a talented actor and this film is no exception. He uses an accent in this film and I could barely tell he was. All characters in this film are written so well and it feels they evolve naturally as they grow older. The main character "Theo" is also excellent and both actors portray him amazingly. The story is amazing which is no surprise because it's based off an award winning book. It is slightly confusing at times and at some parts I found it hard to follow but basically all questions you have are answered by the end of the film. This film also seems to have a problem with pacing. At some parts it feels like everything is going to fast but then some parts feel painfully slow but those are few and far between. I would've liked to see more "Borris" in the film but I understand why they didn't. Its's not his story I guess. But that just goes to show how much I loved these characters. In the end I would definitely recommend you see "The Goldfinch" as long as you are okay with slow burn movies. It's a real treat if you go into with a good mindset.… Expand
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
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10
doritagkSep 16, 2019
It was not as good as the novel but it was pretty good. The actors were great. The kids did a great job
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
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10
kaielySep 21, 2019
das facts das facts das facts das facts das facts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
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10
EligiraSep 21, 2019
Best movie ever!!!......................!!!!!!!!.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.................!!!!!!
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
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10
camilapatinoSep 21, 2019
Incredible piece of art. So thoughtful and enchanting, dealing with the permanence of loss and the truth that we can never really go back, even though you might hope to very much. The themes were tangible and solid, and the camera work wasIncredible piece of art. So thoughtful and enchanting, dealing with the permanence of loss and the truth that we can never really go back, even though you might hope to very much. The themes were tangible and solid, and the camera work was stunningly good.… Expand
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
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10
superdarktimesSep 30, 2019
thank you Ansel for my life and this movie is so much better than the critics say it is. they just hate fun
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
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4
MattBrady99Dec 28, 2019
'The Goldfinch', an all-star cast with a decent director...yet somehow turned out to be such a huge disappointment.

Ansel Elgort was right when he said there was a lot good in this movie, but none of it connected with me. I didn't read the'The Goldfinch', an all-star cast with a decent director...yet somehow turned out to be such a huge disappointment.

Ansel Elgort was right when he said there was a lot good in this movie, but none of it connected with me. I didn't read the book so I only watched this as a movie, because there should be a difference when it comes to adaptation.

Other than that, the movie felt rushed in terms of character development and relationships, which is odd cause the run time is 2.5 hours long. Finn Wolfhard plays a Young Boris and Aneurin Barnard as the adult version. Both actors have Russian accents and will often slip in and out.

The cinematography by Roger Deakins is great, but it isn't his best work. Not bad, just not memorable.

This should have been a straight to Netflix movie.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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6
moviecritic68Sep 19, 2019
Sometimes you come upon a screenwriter who tries to throw too many twists & turns into a story. I felt this way as I tried to follow this film. I see some found this film worthy of a 10 rating but I hardly agree. It's watchable but I couldSometimes you come upon a screenwriter who tries to throw too many twists & turns into a story. I felt this way as I tried to follow this film. I see some found this film worthy of a 10 rating but I hardly agree. It's watchable but I could have easily waited for a DVD release… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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4
winchester7Mar 7, 2021
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The first act showed the promise of the premise. Ansel Elgort and the actor playing the thirteen-year-old version of him did a decent enough job with the characters. However, I do have to point out that this is not an active protagonist that we were dealing with. Theo Dekker just let stuff happen to him and there were no attempts made by the filmmaker to try and make him active. For instance, in the scene where Theo was being blackmailed by his client to get the painting that was supposedly destroyed in the explosion that killed his dear mother, there were no scenes to show what Theo was doing to either do everything he could to protect the painting he had on him or any attempts made by Theo to do anything that would fight for the girl he was interested in. He just stood by and watched it happen.

As for the inciting incident, that never really happened and even if there was one, one could not be identified. The film dragged along for 2 hrs and 19 minutes straight.

What might have been better and exciting if this was a true adaption of a book is that Theo shouldn't have been in possession of the painting this entire time. It should have been set up in a way that Theo would be chasing it.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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4
JLuis_001Dec 1, 2019
They had a good novel, a decent director, a notable cast (with the exception of Ansel Elgort) And yet everything went wrong.

When I first read The Goldfinch a few years ago at the beginning it was hard for me to get into the novel. It tookThey had a good novel, a decent director, a notable cast (with the exception of Ansel Elgort) And yet everything went wrong.

When I first read The Goldfinch a few years ago at the beginning it was hard for me to get into the novel. It took me about 200 pages to get really involved but after that I really enjoyed the book although my favorite book by Donna Tartt is still The Secret History.
When I learned about the adaptation, I was excited, but at the same time it made me think a lot, after all, despite the passage of time in the story of the book, the narrative is very linear.
That's why an adaptation could be complicated and this film demonstrates it because despite being a faithful adaptation it cannot help feeling incredibly inert and boring.

Did it fail to capture the magic of the book? I would hardly say that it's magic but certainly it failed to capture the soul of the story.
The biggest mistake? The disconnection of the times and the narratives. The edition divides the story in a way that doesn't help at all and prevents you from having any connection to the material at all times.

And I must add that the movie fails to provide you with an interesting main character and that's a very serious problem because Theo in the book is all you have. He's your narrator, here he's nothing but a poor person's excuse.
Ansel Elgort is not up to the role at any time and it's not that Theo is a complicated character but it does have many other nuances that Elgort simply fails to channel. A real disappointment.

The Goldfinch is the kind of sober adaptation that made a respectable production full of quality but that completely lacks life and when that fails, then no matter how much it tries it will also fail to get what's necessary to create and leave an impression.

A shame.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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5
JumpCut_OnlineOct 20, 2019
The Goldfinch tries hard to juggle all aspects of its dense source material but ultimately lacks the ability to keep them all up in the air. Nevertheless, Roger Deakins’ superb cinematography and some noteworthy performances are just enoughThe Goldfinch tries hard to juggle all aspects of its dense source material but ultimately lacks the ability to keep them all up in the air. Nevertheless, Roger Deakins’ superb cinematography and some noteworthy performances are just enough to hold your attention throughout the film’s hefty 2-and-a-half-hour runtime.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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3
Mauro_LanariDec 16, 2020
(Mauro Lanari)
Already "Brooklyn" (2015) was an elaboration of grief for the passage of the protagonist to a new spacetime reality: transoceanic and adult. With "The Goldfinch" Crowley replicates the story with the same affectation and(Mauro Lanari)
Already "Brooklyn" (2015) was an elaboration of grief for the passage of the protagonist to a new spacetime reality: transoceanic and adult. With "The Goldfinch" Crowley replicates the story with the same affectation and surrender: "the five stages of grief are shown through the peculiar locations where the film navigates: the impenetrability of New York is the denial, the aridity of the Las Vegas desert the anger, the distant London the bargaining, the criminality of Amsterdam the depression and again New York which, with the antique shop becomes a safe house, for final acceptance"; "narrative discontinuity is the chaos of life." Radiohead contribute to the bleak outcome.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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7
evelaSep 18, 2019
I greatly enjoyed this. I read at least 20 highly negative reviews- & agree with them all! But it's still a good movie! The critics overdid it. And killed it before anyone even saw it! For my negatives, read the reviews.

But it has smooth,I greatly enjoyed this. I read at least 20 highly negative reviews- & agree with them all! But it's still a good movie! The critics overdid it. And killed it before anyone even saw it! For my negatives, read the reviews.

But it has smooth, realistic dialogue, good casting & acting- Kidman is always a joy; young Pippa a delight; & all the kids- and Finn is worth the price of admission!

(Ansel IS Theo, just not quite fully brought to life). Jeffrey Wright is so warm & real, you'll like him (-altho- if you read the book- not Hobie).

If you like a literary feel, if you like kids in movies, if you like atmospheric beauty & color in movies, & atmospheric music;
creative cinematography & settings (such as aerial view of a desert community of foreclosed houses), & nice acting; or, if you read the book (I did)- you'll prob like this.

The (admittedly, problematic) faults do not break it. The movie works. There is much pleasure there. The critics graded as if it broke.

I read that Warner Bros thinks it's the audiences that don't like literary movies. Why don't they realize, it was the critics that killed it, before it was out of the stable. Tell Warner Bros. we like these movies. See it, rate it & help raise its score!… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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10
sophiewatsonSep 21, 2019
i’m a fan of the book and this movie did so well bringing it to life for me. i was shocked but wow an absolutely incredible film. dare i say a must-see. very glad i decided against trusting critics
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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4
FilmreactiviewSep 25, 2019
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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0
EscapologyNov 12, 2020
It was a disgusting movie! Worst movie of 2019 and one of the worst movies in my life!
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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7
Dan_BDec 25, 2020
(Español / English)

Un necesariamente fragmentario drama de personajes con aliento novelístico A necessarily fragmentary character drama with a novelistic breath En una habitación de hotel el joven Theodor (Ansel Elgort) pasa revista a(Español / English)

Un necesariamente fragmentario drama de personajes con aliento novelístico

A necessarily fragmentary character drama with a novelistic breath


En una habitación de hotel el joven Theodor (Ansel Elgort) pasa revista a parte de su vida a partir del momento traumático en que con 13 años sobrevive a un atentado en el Metropolitan Museum de Nueva York en el que pierde a su madre.

Basada en una novela de Donna Tartt, y por ser bastante bastante fiel a ella, la película de John Crowley quizás resulte demasiado ambiciosa y algo dispersa. Esto puede ser, en parte, por su estructura temporal, que alterna entre el Theo adulto y sucesos de cuando contaba 13 años (a cargo de Oakes Fegley), por el carácter trunco de ciertos episodios, por la variedad de tópicos tratados y por cierta desconexión entre ellos. Pero este carácter fragmentario resulta coherente con la situación que vive el protagonista en el hotel y por el carácter de los sucesos en una vida para nada lineal y con bastante mala suerte. De golpe, Theo, a los 13 años, debe elegir y tomar decisiones a un edad en que es fácil equivocarse y en que son los adultos los que en definitiva deciden. Elecciones y decisiones que tienen que ver con quiénes se desea y elige estar, el valor de los objetos, el mundo del arte, el cuidado de sí mismo y la búsqueda de contención.

Con algún momento de acción, la película sale adelante sin embargo porque es un drama de personajes bien construidos, por su aliento novelístico y por las interpretaciones, comenzando por las notables actuaciones de Fegley y Elgort, con quienes es imposible no empatizar. Los acompaña un gran elenco, comenzando por la infalible Nicole Kidman (componiendo otra de las interesantes madres que ya le ha dado al cine) y siguiendo con Jeffrey Wright, Luke Wilson, una Sarah Paulson más sexy que nunca y un avasallante Finn Wolfhart como su amigo de la adolescencia.

......................................................................................................................................................................

Fragments of a life in a character drama

In a hotel room, the young Theodor (Ansel Elgort) reviews part of his life from the traumatic moment when, at the age of 13, he survives an attack at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in which he loses his mother.

Based on a novel by Donna Tartt, and being quite faithful to it, John Crowley's film may be too ambitious and somewhat scattered. This may be, in part, due to its temporal structure, which alternates between the adult Theo and events from when he was 13 years old (by Oakes Fegley), due to the truncated nature of certain episodes, due to the variety of topics covered and due to certain disconnection between them. But this fragmentary character is consistent with the situation that the protagonist lives in the hotel and because of the nature of the events in a life that is not linear at all and with quite bad luck. Suddenly, Theo, at age 13, must choose and make decisions at an age when it is easy to make mistakes and when it is the adults who ultimately decide. Choices and decisions that have to do with who you want and choose to be, the value of objects, the world of art, taking care of yourself and the search for containment.

With some moment of action, the film goes ahead however because it is a drama of well-constructed characters, for its novelistic breath and because of the interpretations, starting with the remarkable performances of Fegley and Elgort, with whom it is impossible not to empathize. They are accompanied by a great cast, starting with the infallible Nicole Kidman (composing another of the interesting mothers that he has already given to the cinema) and continuing with Jeffrey Wright, Luke Wilson, a Sarah Paulson sexier than ever and an overwhelming Finn Wolfhart as his friend in adolescence.… Expand
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10
ILovemoviesbroOct 6, 2022
This movie is so beautiful, the acting and the scenes are amazing. The characters feel genuine and the emotions in this movie are so AHHHHHHHH ❤️ 10/10 definitely recommend
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