The Goldfinch

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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When a young boy’s mother is killed by a terrorist bomb in an art museum, his life is instantly changed. That’s the premise of “The Goldfinch,” a new film from John Crowley. Known to be choosy, this is his first directorial gig since “Brooklyn” in 2015.

Crowley based this film on Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Goldfinch.” The book spent 30 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers list.

The plot: When 13-year-old Theodore Decker’s mother is killed, he salvages a small Dutch painting of a tiny yellow bird from the wreckage, a totem that reminds him of his loss. Turns out, this is one of the few surviving works by Rembrandt’s most brilliant pupil, Carel Fabritius. Strangely enough, Fabritius himself was killed in a 1654 explosion which destroyed his studio and most of his paintings.

“Everything is before and after,” the boy tells us. He’s describing “a stolen life.”

Theo gets taken in by an antiques dealer named James “Hobie” Hobart. There he meets Pippa, a redheaded girl he saw at the museum at the time of the explosion. She gets sent off to a school for troubled youth and Theo grows up to become a partner in the antiques store. He drifts into a life of crime by selling fake antiques to keep the shop afloat.

When he learns that his friend Boris has stolen The Goldfinch painting from him and used it as collateral for criminal enterprises, he sets out to retrieve it. But that is easier said than done. People die.

Being that this is kind of a coming-of-age story, young Theo is played by Oakes Fegley, with Ansel Elgort (“Baby Driver”) taking over the role of the grownup Theo.

The larcenous Boris Pavlikovsky is played by Aneurin Barnard (“Hunky Dory”). Theo’s mentor Hobie Hobart is portrayed by Jeffrey Wright (”The Hunger Games” series, TV’s “Westworld”). Ashleigh Cummings (“Tomorrow”) is Pippa, Theo’s unrequited love interest.

Toss in Nicole Kidman (“The Hours,” TV’s “Big Little Lies”) as the socialite who takes Theo in, and Luke Wilson (“Bottle Rocket,” “The Royal Tenenbaums”) as the boy’s alcoholic dad, to round out the cast.

“The Goldfinch” is currently on exhibit at Tropic Cinema.

The film’s star Ansel Elgort says, “I hope that people find a piece of themselves in the story, and I hope that whatever drew all those people to that book will also draw them to this movie. I think they will be drawn to this movie, because they did a pretty great job capturing that tone and telling this epic story.”

This film is the first collaboration between Warner Bros. and Amazon Films. Amazon put up about a third of the money behind the film, giving it streaming right and distribution through its platform. Warner Bros. kept theatrical and global rights. That may be the future of moviemaking as online media scrambles for content.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com