Collateral Beauty (2016). Dir. David Frankel

Amy / Love (Keira Knightley): “I’m the reason for everything. If you can accept that, then maybe you get to live again”.

I have read some (stupid) bad reviews about this amazing film. I doubt that all those people who left bad reviews are parents who have experienced the indescribable, gigantic, and unconditional love that a parent feels for his/her children. Clearly, they didn’t get the film! Also, this is a movie of many layers: there are many turns and twists, and that’s what makes this movie brilliant. But apparently only few people got the story.

Collateral Beauty is a beautiful, strong & deep movie that talks about parenthood, love, life & death. Don’t expect car races, fights, guns & superficiality! This is a movie that will make you think, will make you cry and will make you learn to accept the tragedies of life.

Collateral Beauty arrived to Spain on December 23, and I was dying to go and see it, because I am a huge fan of Will Smith. I find him very cool, sexy and fascinating: he is handsome, he is exciting, he is funny, and he is artistic. But the most sexy thing that I found about Will is that he is a loving father and a loving husband. As much as I love to see his muscles and his beautiful smile in movies like Bad Boys, Men in Back, Wild Wild West, Ali, I, Robot, Hitch, I Am Legend or Focus, I must say that my favorite Will movie is, definitely, The Pursuit of Happyness. Finally, I couldn’t go to the cinema that Friday, because I have three children (A girl, a boy and a little girl, ages 10, 8, and 3) and I had to bring them to the swimming pool and to Taekwondo, so I ran to the cinema yesterday, Saturday the 24th. And I loved the film.

I stopped watching Trailers before having watched the movie, because the Trailers really ruin the movie for you. So, I didn’t have a clue regarding what Collateral Beauty was about, and I was very touched and surprised.

Will’s performance in Collateral Beauty is breathtaking! He is phenomenal. His eyes have so much pain and so much sadness that you can really feel his sorrow. Edward Norton is OK, Kate Winslet finally managed to get her American accent right (it took her almost 20 years!), and Michael Peña is good enough. I loved the fact that Keira Knightley kept her British accent, Jacob Latimore (I didn’t know him) is great, and Helen Mirren and Naomie Harris are absolutely amazing (Naomie is an spectacular actress: saw her in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and her portray of Winnie took my breath away).

I was very surprised to read today that Will didn’t get a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of Howard and that the movie didn’t get any nomination so far. Oh, well, awards can be really stupid…

Go watch this amazing film today! But don’t forget to bring some tissues!

The best: Will Smith, Naomie Harris, the message of hope (stand up after a horrible personal tragedy), and the dominoes.

The worst: nothing.

Antonia Tejeda Barros, Madrid, December 25, 2016

Original Post here: Pasión cinéfila obsesivo-compulsiva