The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (2014)

Jack and I didn't love this contemporary tale of lost love following a tragedy (not revealed until about a half hour in). Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy are great actors, but the movie made us work a bit harder than we wanted. See the end of the title ": Them"? Originally there were two features, ": Her" and ": Him", at 90 and 100 minutes respectively, which both premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September 2013, apparently telling the same story from the perspective of each partner. This one is those two edited together, at 123 minutes, premiering at Cannes in May of 2014 and released in the US in September. It's noteworthy to me that on the movie's official website the two previous chapters are discussed but ": Them" has been removed from the title. I think it's fair to tell you that Chastain's character is named Eleanor Rigby, and in the movie's production notes it says that her name's purpose is to underscore the generation gap between boomers (her parents) and their kids.

Chastain (last blogged in Zero Dark Thirty) covers all the bases, going from radiant to depressed to resolute in the blink of an eye and McAvoy (most recently in X-Men: Days of Future Past) shows no less range. Plenty of talent supports, including William Hurt (I loved his Oscar-winning Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), his nominated Children of a Lesser God (1986), Broadcast News (1987), and A History of Violence (2005), as well as his work in Altered States (1980), Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), The Accidental Tourist (1988), Woody Allen's Alice (1980), Smoke (1995), Michael (1996), The King (2005), Mr. Brooks (2007), Into the Wild (2007), Vantage Point (2008), and The Incredible Hulk (2008)), Isabelle Huppert (last in Home), Viola Davis (most recently in Get On Up), Bill Hader (last in Clear History), and Ciaràn Hinds (most recently in the short film The Shore), among others. My favorite line is Davis's, as Chastain's professor: "You must really hate the Beatles."

Director/writer Ned Benson's first features were the twins :Her and :Him and I expect we'll see more from him after two Cannes nominations for this one.

For afflicted with Motion Picture Motion Sickness (MPMS), there are some incidences of the camera bouncing as the operator seems to run after an actor but the picture is steady most of the time. We saw this two weeks ago on its penultimate night here. I can't remember the music by Son Lux AKA Ryan Nott and it's not showing up in my searches.

We're on a roll with the fourth picture in a row of Rotten Tomatoes' critics agreeing with us. This one averages 62% with audiences less tepid at 71. If you happen to see it and loved it, write me and we'll discuss.