360 (Fernando Meirelles). 110 minutes. Some subtitles. Opens Friday (August 3). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NN
After the disaster of Blindness, director Fernando Meirelles attempts to recover with something more upbeat and hopeful. Low-key drama 360 follows a series of very different people through various encounters, one after another, ultimately drawing a larger picture of humanity.
This contemporary reworking of La Ronde travels from Europe to America and back again, which allows Meirelles and cinematographer Adriano Goldman to make the most of locations in London, Paris, Vienna and the U.S. they even make the Denver airport look pretty.
Admirers of the late Anthony Minghella’s last film, Breaking And Entering, will recognize the gauzy vibe (and Jude Law). Those who weren’t moved by Minghella’s empathetic insistence that everyone is connected will find Meirelles’s version even more affected and insubstantial.
Some performances stand out: Anthony Hopkins brings a magnetic kindness to his handful of scenes as a father finally coming to terms with his daughter’s disappearance, and Rachel Weisz – who won an Oscar for her performance in Meirelles’s The Constant Gardener – is sharply conflicted as a woman seeking romantic clarity.
But Peter Morgan’s screenplay proves as frustratingly diffuse as 2010’s Hereafter – and even more simplistic, in the end.
