A boy, Theo, is noticeably shaken and being held by the police. His mother has died after an explosion during a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He feels he is responsible for the death of his mother. The whereabouts of his father are unknown. He has given the police the name of a mother, Samantha Barbour, whose family he knows from school.
The woman agrees to take responsibility of him as an obligation since no one in Theo’s family is available. He is clearly emotionally devastated, but shows no sign of crying. Police repeatedly ask him questions about his location, his mother’s location, who and what else he has seen around the time of the explosion, etc. The woman stands up for him and his apparent lack of memory. Theo goes home with the mother. He makes good friends with Andy, the curly-haired son who is just under his age. The family is somewhat dysfunctional, especially visible in incidents involving the strong-willed father and the impudent oldest son, Platt.
We learn that Theo had received a ring from a man killed in the blast. He was asked to return it to Hobart and Blackwell. Theo resourcefully finds the address of Hobart and Blackwell in the phone book and ventures out to deliver the ring. He is invited in and develops a friendship with the antique dealer, Hobie, who had lost his business partner Welty in the blast.
Hobie is taking care of Pippa, the red-haired daughter of Welty Blackwell who Theo admired immediately before the blast. Pippa has major head injuries and spends most of her time in bed and is discouraged from listening to music since she needs rest more than music practice. Pippa and Theo have a strong bond since both just lost the main part of their families in the explosion. Pippa’s mother had already passed away prior to the explosion due to illness.
Theo spends time at both the Barbour family and the Hobie’s shop and home. He learns about antique restoration from Hobie. He develops stronger ties to Andy and Mrs. Barbour. Theo is invited to join them for their summer vacation. However, soon after that invitation, Theo’s father shows up along with his girlfriend. Theo disappointedly is required to travel off to live with his father, Larry, and the father’s girlfriend, Xandra, in a mostly foreclosed neighborhood at the edge of the desert.
Life is lonely at the new school and in the neighborhood, until Theo meets another loner named Boris. Boris is an awkward classmate who has lived many places as his father is a miner. Boris has no mother and his father is typically away. This allows plenty of time for Boris to shoplift, experiment with drugs, and get into other mischief. Some of these habits are adopted by Theo as well.
Through flashbacks, we learn that Theo immediately after the explosion had been encouraged by Welty to take the valuable painting, The Goldfinch, as Welty was dying. Theo had kept it wrapped up, sporadically hugging it as it was a source of comfort, his mother’s favorite painting, and the last art he had seen before his life was radically changed. It becomes more and more clear that Theo’s life all began its downward spiral right at the moment of that terrible explosion.
The Goldfinch is an upcoming American drama film directed by John Crowley, based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Donna Tartt. It stars Ansel Elgort as a young man whose troubled childhood leads him to the world of art forgery. The film is scheduled to be released on September 13, 2019. The film also stars Nicole Kidman, Oakes Fegley, Aneurin Barnard, Finn Wolfhard, Sarah Paulson, Luke Wilson, and Jeffrey Wright in supporting roles.
The Goldfinch is a 2019 American drama film directed by John Crowley and written by Peter Straughan, and adapted from the 2013 novel of the same name by Donna Tartt. The film stars Ansel Elgort, a young man whose life is transformed after his mother dies in a terrorist bombing at a museum, and he is convinced by an older man to take a famous painting called The Goldfinch from the museum. Oakes Fegley, Aneurin Barnard, Finn Wolfhard, Sarah Paulson, Luke Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, and Nicole Kidman appear in the film in supporting roles.
Film rights to the novel were sold to Warner Bros. and RatPac Entertainment with ICM Partners brokering the deal. Two years later, Crowley was hired to direct the film adaptation, and Elgort was selected to portray the lead role of Theodore Decker. Most of the remaining cast joined from October 2017 to January 2018. Filming began in New York City in January 2018 and then moved to Albuquerque in April 2018 for the rest of the production.
The Goldfinch premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and was theatrically released in the United States on September 13, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, with estimated losses for the studio as high as $50 million.
The Goldfinch (2019)
Directed by: John Crowley
Starring: Finn Wolfhard, Nicole Kidman, Ashleigh Cummings, Sarah Paulson, Ansel Elgort, Aneurin Barnard, Luke Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, Willa Fitzgerald, Denis O’Hare, Luke Kleintank
Screenplay by: Peter Straughan
Production Design by: K.K. Barrett
Cinematography by: Roger Deakins
Film Editing by: Kelley Dixon
Costume Design by: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Set Decoration by: Rena DeAngelo, Jaap Hoek
Art Direction by: Deborah Jensen
Music by: Trevor Gureckis
MPAA Rating: R for drug use and language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures, Amazon Studios
Release Date: September 13, 2019
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