This Must Be the Place (2012)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Don't Believe the Hype

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

If there was a prize for overdoing the quirky, this movie would win it. Sean Penn plays ex-rock star Cheyenne, a mega rich guy who is married with a female firefighter. In real life, rock stars usually shack up with models and actresses. But not our Cheyenne, he wants a firefighter... and the two of them live boringly in a huge villa with an empty pool, where they play some sort of ball game. Yet another instance of overdoing the quirky.Besides dressing up like Robert Smith of the Cure, inclusive of red lipstick, Cheyenne does not have much to do, except cruising shopping malls. Then he learns that his long-estranged father is dying and decides to pay a visit. Once Cheyenne lands in the US, we switch to another movie.Now we are in road movie-with-a-vengeance territory. Unfortunately, this part – which sounded more promising than the first one – is carried out with the same quirkiness and lack of energy. Weirdos appear on screen and depart for no discernible reason in what seems the longest second and third acts ever.How does it end? I confess I do not know. I fell asleep because I did not care, and still have not mustered enough energy or interest to check.

This one, despite its cast and talents involved, is only ho-hum and rather slow moving except for a few genius lines. As I wrote before in one of my reviews for writer/director Paolo Sorrentino, his characters depend too much on a stylized way of existence and just because they may be inspired by real life persons or events, that does not make them more believable! Sean Penn is in his "I am Sam" mode, with a bit of Ozzy Osborne thrown in - not a good mixture. His rock star's motivation to go looking for the WW II humiliation source of his late dad's made no sense and escaped me completely particularly since he hadn't spoken to him in 30 years!

Retired aging rock star, Cheyenne, leaves his boring life for one hell of a diversion: tracking down the Nazi guard that persecuted his recently deceased father. As a result of his quest Cheyenne metamorphoses from a melancholy child-like moppet to a self-assured man.Cheyenne (Sean Penn) has kicked heroin and no longer gigs. Without his heroin Cheyenne is like a child: quiet; sensitive; speaks his mind; is thoughtful of other's feelings; is quickly apologetic. Yet, like a sage Buddha he always chooses his words wisely. Even more interesting, Cheyenne moves like an old, stiff man, but looks like his former self all decked out in red lipstick, white-powdered face makeup, heavy black eyeliner, and Johnny Thunders' mane of hair. With not much to do except shop at the local supermarket, play handball with his wife of 30 years in their empty swimming pool, play the stock market, and meddle in a young Goth girl's life, Cheyenne announces that he is depressed. His friend corrects him by telling him that he isn't depressed, he is bored and needs a diversion. And so begins Cheyenne's quest not only to find his father's nemesis, but to find himself.This Must Be the Place is a cerebral movie that puts the audience in the rafters like interns in a teaching hospital looking down on a patient being healed. So, if you prefer entertainment over enlightenment and transformation, then this is not the movie for you. Pros: Sean Penn as Cheyenne. How Cheyenne handled the Nazi Guard. All the unexpected scenes.Con: Would have liked to have seen a little backstory on Cheyenne's early years.

This Must Be the Place (2011)Sean Penn tries very hard in this film, taking on a role of the worn out and disturbed rock star (Cheyenne) living in isolation. His character is weirdly ambiguous—and just plain weird—somewhere between a cross-dresser, a transvestite, and a myopic hedonist. He is something like "the idiot" of literature who seems completely out of touch but also has a wisdom and aloof perspective others do not.It sometimes works. The movie itself is filled with ambiguity, and not in an enchanting way. Since it does not charm by its aura and filmic intention (it has little of either), it should give us a better sense of what exactly is going on. Oh, you'll get the drift, and you'll pick up on the Cheyenne's regret and melancholy. And you might understand he hits the road in a bumbling search for some evil-doer geriatric Nazi (I'm serious) that no other person is better qualified to pursue.Well, any movie that pushes into its own sphere with some enthusiasm is worth watching, to me. I'm glad I did. But I can use my experience to warn a viewer that it's a personal calling here. Penn alone is reason to either hate or like the film, his overacting reminding me mostly that there are people who are really like this character who would have done much better. Instead we feel him acting all the time. It should be said that some of the other actors are forced to push their performances, too.One curious aspect to the film I loved was all the versions of the one song in the film, "Home" or "This Must Be the Place" by the Talking Heads (and performed by all kinds of people including David Byrne himself in a small, very tacked-on cameo). Some of the versions are so different you might not even catch that it's the same song again. Listen.So what's the point of all this angst and campy sadness? I think it's about the rediscovery of this Cheyenne's self. His real self, a person with normal qualities. He succeeds by breaking out of his self-imposed hermetic world and in a way it's a warm and almost terrific experience. For him and for the viewer. But for all its intentions it felt forced to me. There wasn't enough supporting material, not enough ambiance, and not enough character development (oddly enough, since it's all about Cheyenne's character). There is so much time spent on superficial aspects we never really get into the depths that might be here. Maybe.I want to think of this as a 10 star dream with a 4 star soul. That makes 7, I guess. But it feels less satisfying than that for me, and I'm thinking you'll know by now whether you might give this a tentative whirl.