After the unexpected death of the Pope, Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with managing the covert and ancient ritual of electing a new one. Sequestered in the Vatican with the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders until the process is complete, Lawrence finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could lead to its downfall.
Rated 3.9 / 5 from 4 logs on Katalog
Well crafted and phenomenally acted film. The topic and setting are uniquely interesting and in hindsight it kind of does a lot of heavy lifting for a movie that, in any other setting, would be a lot less memorable or impactful. I'm curious if there's any merit to how the conclave ends up voting and why, or is it pure fantasy. Some of the social commentary is a bit too on the nose but I guess that's par for the course in today's filmmaking. The final twist felt almost completely pointless and disjointed from the rest of the film, I guess they needed something to zhuzz up the ending but it achieved the opposite for me as I was left just perplexed as to what was the point, ending on a bit of a low note.
Crazy cardinals 👍🏽
Sup son
I liked the concept a lot and the acting and world is great. However, for an award contender there are some disappointing technical aspects. The generic thriller soundtrack feels wrong and lazy. Why not try to incorporate sounds that feel religious into the soundtrack? There are also a few really ugly edits. If the viewer notices an edit then something isn't right. My biggest issue personally was the choice of shots. There are some fantastic wide shots in the film, but using drawn-out wide shots for small secretive meetings is an odd choice that took me out of these moments. Similarly, tracking in from wide during a serious and tense conversation made me more aware of the shot than invested in the moment. The shots didn't always feel like they where chosen to serve the story, but rather because they looked cool.
Works reasonably well as a critique of the aestheticization of democracy until it lays it on a bit thick with pathos in the final act.
