Film Review: The Light Between Oceans

"One Day This Will All Feel Like A Dream..."

Of the two previous Derek Cianfrance movies so far in his impressive career up to now, The Place Beyond The Pines was perhaps the one that impressed me the most; the multi-layered crime drama famous for pulling a Hitchcock and knocking off top-billed Ryan Gosling around 40 minutes into the picture and then focusing on the mistakes of the parents and the effect it has on the next generation. With Cianfrance's latest picture, The Light Between Oceans, the gloomy sense of tragic melodrama current throughout his filmography is rife once again with a fairy-tale storyline and long-winding arcs bearing a wide range of similarities to The Place Beyond The Pines but also has enough meaty plot difference to be enjoyed as a completely separate body of work. Although the storyline is gripping at times, the movie's constant need to invoke a solid state of complete, unrelenting melancholia is downright tough, ultimately leading to a piece of cinema which can easily be admired but can also easily be dismissed as just too much of a downer to be effective.

As with all Cianfrance movies, The Light Between Oceans benefits mainly from its' impressive cast, with Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, two of current cinema's most consistent actors, leading the way in performances that are immediately believable and are responsible for adding real heart and soul to the drama unfolding on-screen. Add into the picture cameos from the likes of Rachel Weisz and The Light Between Oceans definitely has the acting stance on point throughout. Subsequently, the acting performances are unfortunately subsided by the sometimes plodding pacing of the movie which in itself is dampened by the latter two-thirds of the movie when the tone is unrelenting depression from the characters on-screen and the audience watching. What Cianfrance has with The Light Between Oceans is a perfectly solid drama, one which has stand out performances from its' two leads but one which suffers from a range of problems including its' melancholic attitude which encapsulates the drama throughout.

Overall Score: 7/10