On Monday we briefly mentioned that the New York Post’s Lou Lumenick spoiled the surprise ending of Gabriele Muccino’s “Seven Pounds” starring Will Smith.
We didn’t read it because we didn’t want it spoiled for us, but having now seen it, yes, we can confirm that it’s pretty spoiler-ish and you shouldn’t read it if you want to enjoy the film fully (though to be fair, the idea is suggested right off the bat). The film has been kept purposely vague, the trailer shows nothing and the tagline “Seven Names. Seven Strangers. One Secret,’ is equally nebulous.
Even Jeff Wells is not writing about “Seven Pounds” yet cause everyone is under embargo (according to him in his comments section the embargo on reviews is lifted on opening day??), but there is one way to write about which is to talk about what other people have said, no?
Lumenick called it “Seven Hundred Pounds of Schmaltz” which for one we would say is way too severe. Secondly, David Poland has done an excellent, actors-under-the-radar piece for Oscar. He shouts out ‘Pounds’ stars Rosario Dawson and Will Smith. He writes, “Ms. Dawson finally arrives as a full-fledged actor with this performance of subtlety, nuance, and beauty in a drama that plants its flag firmly in the emotion centers of the audience’s brain,” and we must say we fully agree. She’s great in the film and a lesser actor could have ruined it. It might be some of the strongest work she’s ever done dramatically. We agree with Poland that Smith is good, but we don’t know if we’d go to bat as hard as he is.
Smith hints at what’s happening in “Seven Pounds” in this interview with MoviesOnline. “I’ve been exploring the idea of trauma and the relationship between trauma and continuing life, right? So with… ‘Seven Pounds,’ I’m starting the character on trauma, right? And then I was asking the question, ‘Well, what’s the difference between someone who falls into depression and someone like Nelson Mandela or Muhammad Ali or Gandhi or Mother Theresa?’ They just keep going in the face of, you know, the ultimate weight of humanity and life. And the thing that I discovered on ‘Seven Pounds’ is its purpose. When you have a purpose, when you wake up and you’ve dedicated your life to something beyond yourself, all is bearable, right? And it just so exploded in my mind with this movie and with this character and if there’s been a movie in my career that I would say changed my life, it’s ‘Seven Pounds.’ ”
Right, well that’s about all we’ll say for now. We don’t want to incur wrath with this one.