Hidden Gems: Saoirse Ronan

Another month has past and I’m still a little behind with Hidden Gems. So while today you only get to enjoy me venturing through Saoirse Ronan’s filmography, December will bring you two Hidden Gems. I hope I can make it happen. There’s a lot of things I’ve got planned for next month and well, I might be over extending my abilities. Regardless, here is Saoirse Ronan for Hidden Gem movie challenge.

WHY SAOIRSE RONAN?

There are two younger British/Irish actresses who I love deeply. One is Florence Pugh who is still gaining momentum in Hollywood and the other is Saorise Ronan. Most of her movies I’ve seen I love. One of which is actually my favourite romance movie of the past decade.

But there are a handful of Ronan’s movies I’ve yet to see. So I figured I needed to catch up before she makes more movies. Now I’m almost caught up but there are a few that I don’t think I’ll ever really want to watch. Sorry Ronan, I’m a fan but I know I wont’t watch all your movies.

STATISTICS

Letterboxd has 26 Saoirse Ronans movies listed in her filmography and before this challenge I had seen 11. She has one that is already circling the film festivals but I didn’t count it in without a wider release. I did count in the Muppets movie even though I never plan to watch it.

Out of the 11 movies with Saorise I have seen these are my favourites: Brooklyn, Atonement, Little Women and Lady Bird.

I’ve also seen The Grand Budapest Hotel, Mary Queen of Scots, Hanna, The Host, The Way Back, I Could Never Be Your Woman and City of Ember.

My random picks for the Hidden Gems challenge were: Violet & Daisy (2011), Lost River (2014) and On Chesil Beach (2017).

VIOLET & DAISY

I’m not quite sure what this movie was trying to do. It was a dark comedy I guess but it wasn’t really funny nor was it entertaining. It’s about these two girls, hitmen, who go to kill a guy. Then they mess up, don’t kill him and eventually some other bad guys are there to kill him. That’s it, that’s the plot.

This movie did not win me over with violence, fashion nor jokes. There was one cool moment but the lack of skill when the girls were holding guns was sad. It looked fake. I wouldn’t say it’s sloppy but Violet & Daisy feels unfinished. Like they had an idea but didn’t fully form it before they started shooting. Literally.

The performance by Saoirse was okay, she didn’t really have anything to work with though. Alexis Bledel was alright and stand out was James Gandolfini who held the movie together. Based on this I definitely like Saorise in more civil roles, period movies or like more thoughtful movies. Violet &Daisy was just a messy movie that was saying something but to who, I have no idea.

LOST RIVER

If you thought I was being harsh before… Woah. Lost River is probably the weirdest thing I’ve seen this month and I promise you, I’ve seen some things I’ve yet to tell you about. Lost River beats them all because it’s so dumb.

I guess it’s a neo-noir and it’s by Ryan Gosling, his debut as a director and writer. He put everything he liked into this movie and when I mean everything, I mean everything. There’s so much style in this that at one point you don’t know what the story is because you’re so buried under over stylised scenes. Sure, one could argue that there are other movies like this but for me, the story did not click so I was not happy with the style at all.

Where was Saorise in all of this? Lost. Completely lost in this weird movie. I wasn’t blown away by her performance nor any other performances. Now I just want my time back.

ON CHESIL BEACH

This was not the best but it was probably the most complete of the three I watched for this months Hidden Gems challenge. On Chesil Beach is about a newlywed couple on their wedding night in 1962. But everything starts to go wrong and we get to see bits and pieces of their past as they tell and recall their past and their relationship.

The thing I wasn’t a big fan of was its non-linear narrative storyline. But the storyline needed this for its big scene and it made sort of sense. For the end it does go linear again. There is a lovely scene where Saorise’s character visits the family of her boyfriends and is very nice to them. That was lovely. There are some moments here and there but we never spend enough time in those moments. Their relationship never feels like something you want to root for. Not completely because the tender moments are too sparse.

Billy Howle plays the male lead and is really good. Here Soarise got the most time of my Hidden Gems to shine and she was so good. She is beautiful in a subtle way. She also has a very emotionally complex character. Her character here reminded me a little of her Brooklyn’s Eilis but her backstory is a lot rougher, heavier. But what Brooklyn has, On Chesil Beach could have never achieved. It’s just not as good. Sure, it has heavier themes woven into it but still it’s not as good. Yet I feel like the third act of the movie does give it a special something.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m starting to feel like there aren’t many good movies I haven’t seen…. No that’s not true. I feel like faith is making me cross off the movies I should never have watched and Soarise’s month felt especially like that. Two bad ones and one okay movie among her so many movies that I love. Yes, I didn’t list them all above as my favourites but I still like them all.

Anyway, I had little fun this month with the movies. On Chesil Beach was the best among the bunch but it was no Brooklyn nor Atonement (I forgot to mention it’s by the same book author!). And honestly, I’m comparing everything to Brooklyn when it comes to those types of movies. Yet, it was also sad and I guess in some ways it could have been a Hidden Gems for tears.

Previous month on Hidden Gems – AMY ADAMS

Next month on Hidden Gems –  ADAM DRIVER and CHRIS EVANS