Release: Splendour

 

Splendour

Genre: Drama/Mystery

Director: Brady Corbet

Writer: Lon Charles

Cast: Rebecca Hall, Ashton Kutcher, Michael Pitt, Wyatt Russell, Ron Livingston

Budget: $20,000,000

Domestic Box Office: $28,239,501

Foreign Box Office: $12,509,030

Total Profit: $5,481,666

Reaction: Thanks to a small cast and a modest budget - and surely due to the subject matter - this one managed to make a small profit despite the lack of action and explosions.

"Splendour is a gorgeously shot, psychologically thorny reimagining of a tragedy Hollywood still won’t touch with a ten-foot boom mic. Director Brady Corbet turns Natalie Wood’s death into a haunted tone poem of bad vibes, yacht fights, and actors who all look like they’ve got secrets - and that’s the point. Rebecca Hall is radiant in fleeting flashbacks, and Kutcher shocks with actual nuance (!), but the movie plays like a beautifully lit dirge that sometimes forgets to say anything. It asks big questions, then moonwalks away. Is it gripping? Often. Is it conclusive? Not even a little." - Reggie Coscarelli, San Fernando Valley Sun

“One of Hollywood’s great mysteries is captured in fine detail by Lon who mixes mystique and tension with multiple conflicting tales on what really happened to Natalie Wood. Ashton Kutcher and Wyatt Russell in particular stand out in particular, and in regard to Ashton, I see him in contention for a GRA award with his role as Wagner.” - Mitchell Parker, New York Times

"Brady Corbet’s Splendour is a masterclass in restrained storytelling - a brooding, hypnotic exploration of grief, memory, and the unknowable truths behind public tragedy. Anchored by a quietly commanding performance from Ashton Kutcher, who sheds every vestige of his comedic persona, and bolstered by Michael Pitt’s aloof charisma as Walken, the film simmers with tension. Rebecca Hall is luminous in her brief but potent appearances as Natalie Wood, lending heart to a story told in shadows. The film eschews sensationalism for something more elegiac - less concerned with answers than with the emotional wreckage left behind. A haunting, impeccably composed work that lingers like a half-remembered dream." - Gregory Fletcher, Los Angeles Times-Journal

Rated R for language and thematic elements