Ron Howard is one of the most prolific directors working today. His films, like Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind, have stood the test of time. Whereas even with those winners, Howard has delivered misfires like In The Heart of The Sea and Hillbilly Elegy. It’s a varied career that, as it’s progressed, has been met with hesitation from viewers. Audiences never know what kind of Ron Howard film we may be getting next. His latest film, now in theaters, Eden, fits into that same category of hesitation. With a cast including Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Daniel Bruehl, Vanessa Kirby, and Sydney Sweeney, it seems like the film has worthwhile ingredients. The question is, does it deliver?
Eden tells the story of a group of outsiders who flee Germany in 1929. Finding “salvation” on a deserted island in the Galápagos Islands, a variety of characters look to rebuild what they deem a utopia. This includes Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Law) and Dore Strauch (Kirby) as the architects of this new plan. Their ambitions have attracted a young German couple, Margret (Sweeney) and Heinz Wittmer (Bruehl), and Heinz’s son Harry (Jonathan Tittel), blindly following the Ritters. But that’s not all, once the Baroness Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wherhorn (de Armas) and her loyal followers arrive. With all of these people looking to coexist, a newfound “peace” seems to take shape. That is, until more primitive human sensibilities take over.
One undeniable element of Eden is that it is not a typical Ron Howard movie. There is a strange, bombastic energy to the filmmaking. Howard trades his grandiose melodrama sensibilities for a grittier narrative. If viewers did not know he directed this, it would be hard to notice his filmmaking flourishes. While meant to be a “beautiful paradise”, the film is shot with a serious saturation of color. It adds to the tension, putting audiences into a sense of unease from the start. It’s an impressive choice, especially with the screenplay being co-written by Howard and writer Noah Pink.
Once the plot rolls into motion, Eden is a ridiculous film. Some story choices are so zany that they will make or break the viewing experience. Some will be willing to go along with the ride. At the same time, others may feel like it is a bad film as a whole. Having seen the movie over two weeks ago, it’s admittedly hard for me to decide where I land on the issue. What can be said is that with some of those choices, the film constantly kept my attention and engagement. From one scene to the next, the film holds a serious layer of unpredictability. That includes both humorous and often-horrifying moments. None of those moments would succeed without the cast assembled.
Every cast member of Eden clearly understands the task at hand. They want to convey that during this period, society simply couldn’t find harmony. Yet at the sametime, they all play the performances in anything but understated ways. The most understated portrayals have to go to both Sweeney and Bruehl. Their being the audience’s conduits allows them to say the things that viewers are thinking. While they are the driest performances in the bunch, they serve their purpose in the story. Neither is bad in the roles, but they carry less of a narrative heft than their costars.
Law and Kirby, as the architects of this society, somewhat feel like they’re in a different movie. Law arguably gets the more showy performance, delivering something scenery-chewing from one scene to the next. He’s in many ways a genius and a sexist, existing as someone who feels not from this world. Even being based on an actual person, he manages to captivate viewers’ attention with his outlandishness. Kirby, on the other hand, feels slightly shortchanged in this story. She certainly can take some big performative swings later on in the story, but the character simply doesn’t have the same amount of depth as Law. When she is allowed to shine, it is effective. I just wanted more of it.
Ana de Armas, on the other hand, has one of the strangest performances of the year. As the Baroness, she makes the character an enigma. Her alluring charm makes her a wolf in sheep’s clothing. She can control whoever she wants, using sexuality as a weapon of power and dominance. It’s a performance playing to the back row of the theater, and some will love it while others hate it. What’s undeniable is that she remained constantly engaging with with me, unable to guess what she’ll do next. It’s certainly not an Oscar-worthy performance, but one that leaves such a significant impression that it’s hard to ignore.
Eden is an incredibly wild and unruly movie as a whole. Ron Howard makes a film based on a true story that feels unlike anything he’s done before. The results of which make something quite engaging to watch. There is a broadness on display here from both the tone and performances. While the themes of human nature are present, they’re significantly less interesting than the over-the-top nature. Simply watching these actors spar (with a variety of stripped-down prosthetics) is a fun time at the movies. While not necessarily a memorable film, it’s one that certainly delivers enough bizarre entertainment value. In a time of Oscar-bait and heavy films, seeing something this campy could be more than enough for some viewers.
Eden is now on digital and demand.
Learn more about the film at the IMDB site for the title.
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