Yes No Maybe So: "Silence"

Each and every year I pray that we will have ample time to CONSIDER each Oscar nominee. But one film always wants to emerge so late in the game that the world (i.e. Oscar fanatics, critics, list-makers, and awards voters) will be rushed to judgment.

I pray but I'm lost. Am I just praying to silence?"

It worked out well for the late arrivals last year (The Force Awakens and The Revenant which between them nabbed 17 Oscar nominations and 3 wins) so will it be as successful for Rogue One and Silence this year which we believe will be the last two movies to screen and which will dutifully fill the exact same slots of Star Wars Movie and Brutal All Male Historical Epic.

The Silence trailer is here so we may now finally judge for ourselves based on 2 minutes and 13 seconds instead of all of the rumors. The Trailer and our Yes No Maybe So™ breakdown after the jump...

YES

• That lush head of hair on Andrew Garfield. Even distressed, wet, or malnourished its proof of God's existence.
• The costumes and production design by Oscar favorite Dante Ferretti (nominated in both categories the last time he did double duty for Scorsese with Kundun) look deeply watchable
• Scorsese's tinkering doesn't always solve a movie's problems -- lord knows he took forever on Gangs of New York and it was still one of his worst -- but  even his worst pictures are generally quite worth watching.
• It will be nice to see Liam Neeson challenged again given how long its been since he had a role that wasn't "You've done a crime. Now I shall kill you!"
• It certainly appears EPIC and that holds its own special appeal as movies go. 

NO

• Brutality. Yay, crucifixions just in time for the holidays
• Scorsese's religiosity is generally somewhat anguished and therefore of interest. On the other hand Christians feeling persecuted is one of the most annoying things about the United States. The religious right is constantly harping on this in our country despite the fact that they're the only religion at home that tries to force itself and its idealogies and rules on the public at large, no matter what their neighbors believe. So who is being persecuted, exactly? Will a whole long film about actual persecutions of Christians be agonizing to sit through as it will only reiterate their bizarre fact-free belief that they're always being fed to the lions in the 21st century? (FWIW: I am Christian but modern Christianity, especially the Evangelical variety, is personally revolting to me and appears to bear very little relation to Christ or his teachings. If Christ returned, you can bet they'd be the first group to crucify him again for his liberal ways and "inclusivity". The idea of loving everyone and caring for the sick is anathema to the hard right. 
• The trailer plays like a taught action-packed thriller with is speedy editing and suspense music. This must be false advertising given the reported length of the movie and its subject matter.

MAYBE SO

• Looooove the shot of Adam Driver staring at an out of focus Garfield and Japanese man in the foreground but what are the relationships like in this all man movie which will 100% not pass the Bechdel Test. 
• Those accents on Adam Driver (hmmm) and Andrew Garfield (yikes) sound suspicious in these short aural doses. Let's hope they play better in context. They are both terrific actors but one can't help but wonder if this sort of movie might have been better served without famous franchise faces from Star Wars, Spider-Man, and Batman pulling us out of its highly specific 17th century reality.
• This trailer gives us not one line of dialogue from Liam Neeson so we have no idea what's in store there. Will he deliver on the new challenge?
• The trailer also skimps on highlighting the fine Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano (of Mongol, Thor, and Ichi the Killer fame) who plays the interpreter. Does he not have a big part like we thought he would? 
•  Given the absolute depressing state of the real world when it comes to religiosity / politics / violence who is going to want to see this. And at Christmas no less!? We shall see.

Are you a 'yes no or maybe so'? I am eager to see it but I am definitely a maybe so as I am weary of Scorsese's inabiilty to make movies any shorter than too long. Also I haven't loved one of his movies since 2006. 

Comments

[BJT]

I was a giant yes until I saw the trailer yet...

Put me down for a Maybe so. There's something about the dialogue used that feels a bit on the nose. I hope the other 150 minutes is a little more nuanced.