Blonde is one of the big hitter original movies for Netflix in 2022. There has been a great deal of press and a lot of people talking about this movie. Written and directed by Andrew Dominik, what we have here is a more dramatic and fictitious retelling of some of the hardships of the life of Marilyn Monroe.
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You can download or stream the film from Netflix. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you like biographical films, check out also our reviews of Elvis.
The Movie Review
I will admit right off the bat, I am not what you would call an expert on the life or career of Marilyn Monroe at all. However, I know what an icon and a legend she is so I was interested to see what this movie had to offer. To start with, I love the way the movie is shot.
The majority of the movie is in black and white. As well as being in black and white, there are also changes to the aspect ratio and it is weird, but I do think it gives the movie a kind of artsy feel to it. However, on the flip side of this, I can see why some people may find this more distracting than cool.
Another aspect of Blonde that I thought was great was Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe/Norma Jean. She is certainly beautiful and her presence on the screen is very captivating and makes you pay attention to what is going on. Now, I hate to say this, but Blonde was not a movie that I enjoyed at all.
I can see this being a movie that is really going to be something you either love or hate. I can see why some people would love it for its artistic flair. However, as a movie, it is very, very depressing. It just really focuses on the negative aspects of the life of Marilyn Monroe, she gets knocked down time and time again in the movie and you just feel bad for her.
We get to see many of her high-profile relationships and the highlight of the “story” for me was the relationship between Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio. You can only see someone deal with so much trauma and hardship before they need to show you something positive. Yet that never comes! It is just horrible event after horrible event and for a movie that lasts the better part of three hours, it starts to really get you down.
Again, I can see why there are some people who love this movie, I really can. Yet for me, this dragged towards the end, the last 30 minutes felt like an eternity and once the movie ended, I had this flat and just kind of “meh” feeling about the whole thing. Even my wife, who I watched the movie with, was not sold on it and felt that it was too depressing and dark.
While I thought that Ama de Armas was great in this role and I thought the way it was shot looked great. The story and the runtime of Blonde just made this such a chore for me to sit through. Again, I can see why some people are raving about this and love it, but it certainly was not for me.
