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Movies & TV Movies & TV Reviews

>>> A Bigger Splash gets wet and wild

A BIGGER SPLASH (Luca Guadagnino). 124 minutes. Opens Friday (May 13). See Listing.  Rating: NNNN


It’s that time of year when the comic-book-based blockbusters hit the screen and moviegoers are treated like children. So thank the cinema gods for a movie geared to grown-ups.

Pop star Marianne (Tilda Swinton), recovering from throat surgery that prevents her from speaking, has retreated with her lover, Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts), to an idyllic Italian island where they loll on the beach, eat and make love.

But when her obnoxious ex-boyfriend and record producer Harry (Ralph Fiennes) shows up with his (maybe) daughter (Dakota Johnson), the Garden of Eden gets disrupted by desire of all kinds – snakes, too.

Director Luca Guadagnino gets astonishing performances from his cast. Fiennes as the obnoxious and charismatic ex is superb, and Johnson shows what she can do with a decent script. But it’s Swinton who works real wonders in almost complete silence.

References to illegal refugees on the island are underdeveloped, and Harry is often too irritating.

But this pic is mesmerizingly beautiful and sexy. 

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