Yet another reason to be so very sad that Philip Seymour Hoffman is gone. The casting is excellent. The characters are despicable human beings but the story doesn't cry out for redemption. It's messy and dirty and that's what it was trying to be.
Good performances elevate a meandering film. Worth a watch, if only to see Hoffman in one of his final performances.
God's Pocket is one of the last films that Philip Seymour Hoffman did and basically has been on my watchlist for him. An extremely talented actor who left too soon, which will always leave a void in the cinematic world.
I do not know much about the film and just before started to see it I read the synopsis that sounded quite interesting. Very early we realize that the film will have a dark and heavy atmosphere but the interesting way that we think it will follow is quickly lost and we create an expectation of what we are about to see and end up being disappointed.
Mickey has a stepson, a little crazy, with some attitude and way of being a bit strange. When he dies in an accident at work, the neighborhood where they live, called God's Pocket, does not show any kind of compassion for the family. Mickey's wife, the boy's mother, thinks that her son's death is a whole weird situation and demands a explaination because something seems to be wrong. This all could not happen at a worse time, Mickey has no money to pay for the funeral and his wife extremely sad and depressed about the loss of her child can not understand all the indifference that is given to the death of his young son by both part of her husband as by all the neighborhood.
God's Pocket attempt to use black humor on several occasions, but in my view without any success. Did not make me laugh even once. Although the performances are good, because the cast includes names like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks, John Turturro and Richard Jenkins their performances are not sufficient since the story is not capable of being solid and we can't not even sympathize with any of the characters. It does not exist any kind of character development and we find ourselves thinking about other things while we're watching the film. One of the best things about the film is undoubtedly its cinematography, with some visually interesting scenes using for example the perfect light to portray the state of mind of the moment.
God's Pocket is another example of how a great cast can not save a film, simulating along the way a final result that never comes.
Shout by Matthew Luke BradyBlockedParent2020-07-05T16:36:57Z
Well this pocket is empty.
The acting from Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Turturro, and Richard Jenkins were all pretty good. But the movie lacks on characters and the writing in the movie, as I didn't think it was very good. I wanted to like this movie but it kind of let me down.
Overall rating: God's Pocket was a mediocre film with good acting, but a weak script. Could have been better.