'The Lost City of Z' A Review

The Lost City of Z is a biographical adventure/drama based on the non-fiction book of the same name. The film follows Percy Fawcett(Charlie Hunnam) an early 20th century military man turned explorer on his various expeditions into the Amazon to find a lost city. It opens on a military ball where Fawcett with the help of his wife Nina(Sienna Miller) hopes to gain contacts in order to elevate his position. Although failing that he is later given a surveying mission in the Amazon. He's paired up with Henry Costin(Robert Pattison) who becomes his companion thereafter. On that first mission Fawcett discovers ancient artifacts which hint at a sophisticated society long buried. This becomes his life long obsession.

Hunnam in his first real meaty dramatic role delivers in spades. He shoulders the major burden of the film with ease and contrasts the single-mindedness of the character with a captivating vulnerability. Hunnam captures the weight of responsibility and yearning for the unknown which war within Fawcett. Finally free from the baggage of teen stardom Pattison gives the best performance of his career, barely recognizable with his huge beard and thick accent, grounded and authentic he perfectly balances the more dream-like turn of Hunnam. Miller, somewhat confined by the role of home-bound wife still captivates with her magnetism and empathy. The supporting cast are all wonderful with some portrayals natural and others more heightened which in concert provide a great backdrop for the leads. Most notably Angus Macfadyen as the deliciously pathetic and petulant James Murray,

After a string of well produced but tonal failures writer/director James Gray has managed a success, in fact a beautiful harmony. The film fluidly mixes and switches not only time and location but genre. It is part period drama, part adventure, part war film, part hallucinogenic spiritual crisis. And they all come together to form a coherent and compelling whole. Visually immaculate the film periodically cuts in abstract images, dreams, or the characters imaginings which could be distracting but turn out to be incredibly potent heightening the already impressive craft.

A film about freedom, duty, and passion that reaches for something beyond.

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