The Tonal Disaster of ‘The Book of Henry’

By Jacob Oller

Like The Lovely Bones before it, this miscalculated stinker rang false.

The Book of Henry was an utterly preposterous trainwreck of a film (and, even moreso, of a business investment) that reflected so poorly on director Colin Trevorrow that some peg his Star Wars firing on the film’s failure. The film – about a child prodigy, sexual abuse, kitschy schemes, and revenge – already sounds ridiculous on paper. That it was made at all is shocking.

But some argue that, given to another director, it had potential.

Andrew Saladino’s newest video focuses on the film’s tonal miscalculation. Instead of taking itself so seriously, this is diagnosed as the film’s fatal flaw (which is where I disagree, seeing as the script itself contains so much asinine coincidence and madness that any tone would feel off). Saladino, however, does a great job explaining how tone can make or break a film of this scale – even when all the other ingredients seem right.

The article The Tonal Disaster of ‘The Book of Henry’ appeared first on Film School Rejects.

Related Posts:

• Pablo Larraín and Gael García Bernal Re-Team for ‘Ema’Formal experimentation continues to be the name of the game for the duo behind ‘No’ and ‘Neruda.’ Sometimes, filmmakers are blessed with the joy and security of finding their perfect muses, and frankly, there is little sense … Read More
• ‘Pledge’ Review: Familiar, Forgettable, Fun… Just Like College (Fantasia 2018)You never forget your last hazing. One of the many powers that cinema holds is its ability to create worlds we’ll never visit and characters we’ll never be. There are far more exotic locales than college, but a person actuall… Read More
• ‘The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion’ Review: Terrible Title, Kick-Ass Movie (Fantasia 2018)La Femme Nikita by way of Psychokinesis. There is nothing quite like South Korean genre cinema. From the tonal mastery that sees them instantly move from pathos to pratfalls, to plots denser but far tastier than year-old frui… Read More
• ‘Cam’ Review: Identity As a Fragile Series of Zeros and Ones (Fantasia 2018)Think The Net, but with Sandra Bullock riding a motorized sex saddle. Horror films typically set their characters in a scenario where they face some manner of external threat. Killers, monsters, animals, sentient trees. Somet… Read More
• Winnie the Pooh and the Modest Opening Weekends‘Christopher Robin’ was never going to be a big moneymaker for Disney. Where are all the Winnie the Pooh fans? The character and his friends at the Hundred Acre Wood have been a licensing success for Disney for more than 50 y… Read More