I really wanted to like this film and it's not a film I wouldn't want to watch again. I usually reserve my 5 stars ratings for films that are "good but that I don't want to watch again".
In Daliland we have some great acting by Kingsley and Barbara Sukowa, actually some great settings and scenes (the laughing fit when Dali meets Gala for the first time!), and the film is overall entertaining. I probably would watch it again.
Still, the film feels like a mediocre and slightly "cheesy" and somehow uninspired execution of a great story, and it's difficult to pinpoint this to a single factor. I'll try to give an overview:
- Most of the actors besides Kingsley and Stukowa are not really convincing
- All the music they've used in the film feels like it's supposed to be provisional fill-ins. Did they run out of money to buy better music or was it just bad taste? Most of the music is generic Rock, and Alice Cooper's "School's Out for Summer" feels completely out of place.
- The editing and pacing feels off. It feels like they came to a rough cut and then they ran out of interesting ideas. Especially the last scene feels underwhelming. What could have been a grande last scene feels like something you'd expect to see in a student's movie.
- I still don't get that second sex-scene, it feels completely out of place and unnecessary, as if they just put it in to make the film 3 minutes longer
- The camera-work is mostly uninspired (see: last scene)
This film is still enjoyable and watchable, but after watching it you'll automatically have the feeling: "well, they could have done that better".
