Maybe there should be a law against the I-Hate-Kevin-Costner Club writing reviews of his movies, because I find their comments invariably critically illiterate and completely unhelpful. They may be superb movie critics every other time, but when it comes to a Costner movie the mere presence of their bete noire makes the red haze close in, blinding them to the movie itself.
What Dragonfly is is a supernatural romance, pure and simple. (There are no sci-fi, or sf, elements in it.) The story itself is pure and simple as well; if you break it down to its elements it has the plot of a short story, not a novel. But it's a very good short story, well worth telling.
And it's in the telling that this movie really excels. The supernatural elements are kept surprisingly low-key; the chills come from subtlety, not melodrama. The pacing is beautifully slow and measured, allowing the viewer to become completely absorbed in the tale and its atmosphere. The camerawork is fittingly superb; there are some astonishingly beautiful frames here. A couple of superb supporting performances stand out: Kathy Bates as the tough but obliging and good-hearted neighbour and Jacob Vargas as an Ecuadorean pilot, who seems at the outset to be just a two-dimensional stereotype but, in a small amount of screen time, manages to give his character surprising depth. Jacob Smith, too, deserves mention for his very small role. Costner himself plays his part extremely well and convincingly; maybe those who criticize him for seeming flatness in the first two-thirds of the movie have never observed the way some people react to grief.
If you enjoyed Field of Dreams you should enjoy this. If you thought Field of Dreams was just a dumb sports movie then, well, there's not much hope for you: you won't enjoy Dragonfly either.
What Dragonfly is is a supernatural romance, pure and simple. (There are no sci-fi, or sf, elements in it.) The story itself is pure and simple as well; if you break it down to its elements it has the plot of a short story, not a novel. But it's a very good short story, well worth telling.
And it's in the telling that this movie really excels. The supernatural elements are kept surprisingly low-key; the chills come from subtlety, not melodrama. The pacing is beautifully slow and measured, allowing the viewer to become completely absorbed in the tale and its atmosphere. The camerawork is fittingly superb; there are some astonishingly beautiful frames here. A couple of superb supporting performances stand out: Kathy Bates as the tough but obliging and good-hearted neighbour and Jacob Vargas as an Ecuadorean pilot, who seems at the outset to be just a two-dimensional stereotype but, in a small amount of screen time, manages to give his character surprising depth. Jacob Smith, too, deserves mention for his very small role. Costner himself plays his part extremely well and convincingly; maybe those who criticize him for seeming flatness in the first two-thirds of the movie have never observed the way some people react to grief.
If you enjoyed Field of Dreams you should enjoy this. If you thought Field of Dreams was just a dumb sports movie then, well, there's not much hope for you: you won't enjoy Dragonfly either.