Shutter Island
Or, Shitter Island, as dubbed by my better half.
*SPOILERS RAMPANT WITHIN FOLLOWING TEXT*
This movie is way too goddamn long. The acting is rather notable, but with the predictable, tired, drawn out story that isn’t enough to save it. So he is actually crazy, which everyone thought unlikely for the very reason that it is so obvious. I do not find that compelling. It is possible that I audibly laughed when it is revealed that the names of the people created by his insanity are anagrams of the people on which they are based. Crazy people love their anagrams. Oh, and you simply must give Kingsley credit for the most elaborate LARP there ever was.
The positives for Shutter Island are threefold - the first but not greatest being the acting. Secondly, I consider Ted Levine’s appearance in anything to be a gift just for me. I cannot help but smile watching him. Finally, there is my favorite element to the film: choosing to be crazy. For me it hearkens back to Memento and the idea of making decisions in a sane state of mind because of the actions that will arise from those choices when you are not sane. I am thoroughly amused by such a notion. It could be argued that when Leo regresses at the end of the film he is pretending to do so in order to be lobotomized thereby ending his misery. That’s fine, but there is a view that I find much more interesting and thusly choose to believe. I prefer for him to want his torment to be over by way of a lobotomy, and, knowing that if he regresses he will get said treatment, he allows himself to again be overcome by his delusions. Further, I find it likely that he made this conscious choice earlier when they alluded to his first regression.
So there it is, a small distinction, but one that makes all the difference in the world.
