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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Wednesday 18 april 2018
Review: Road trips and redemption in Netflix’s ‘Kodachrome’

By LINDSEY BAHR
AP Film Writer
The characters in the new
film “Kodachrome ,” a
good-natured if by-the-
numbers road trip and rela-
tionship drama with Jason
Sudeikis, Elizabeth Olsen
and Ed Harris, are enchant-
ed by the analog. Music is
to be listened to on vinyl.
Maps are to be read, and
not by Siri, to get to a des-
tination. Photographs are
best on film. And face time
is better than FaceTime
when it comes to making
amends for decades of
bad behavior.
It’s a little funny, then, that
Netflix is ultimately the rea-
son that audiences will be
able to see “Kodachrome.”
The company acquired
the indie at the Toronto
International Film Festival
last fall and is releasing it
to streaming customers on
Friday. While it’ll certainly
mean the biggest pos-
sible audience for “Koda- This image released by Netflix shows Ed Harris, from left, Elizabeth Olsen and Jason Sudeikis in a scene from “Kodachrome.”
chrome,” there’s also some Associated Press
irony in a movie about the Harris, who plays a famous felt monologue about how when we meet him, losing traveled before, many,
death of a type of film be- photojournalist rushing “nothing beats the real a big client and getting an many times.
ing released on a service against the clock to get thing” and how digital pho- ultimatum from his boss that And while this makes much
that more than a few are some forgotten rolls devel- tographs are basically just he’s got to evolve and sign of the journey predictable,
worried will be the death of oped, even has a heart- “electronic dust.” His char- someone. It only gets worse not to mention the fact that
another kind of film. acter doesn’t get into the when a woman he’s never the presence of Zoe, who
topic of digital movies and met before, Zoe (Elizabeth doesn’t do all that much
streaming services, but, it’s Olsen), shows up to tell him caretaking, is an offensively
so on the nose, it can’t help that his father, Ben (Harris), contrived and obvious plot
but trigger the thought. is dying and would like to device, the talented actors
Not that the look of the see him. elevate the thin premise
movie is even all that clas- Matt and Ben haven’t spo- and make it worth watch-
sical or “analog” anyway. ken for a decade, and ing — especially the end.
The images are smooth their relationship was al- Sudeikis, in particular, shines
and pretty, but sanitized ready strained and sour in this unusually dramatic
and, well, digital. But the in- before then with the death role and exhibits a depth
tentions are sweet. of Matt’s mother and Ben’s he touched on in films like
It’s based on a 2010 New general absence. But now, “Sleeping with Other Peo-
York Times article by A.G. with death knocking, Ben ple” and “Colossal” but
Sulzberger about the clos- would like Matt to accom- that he really gets to live in
ing of the last processor of pany him (and Zoe, who is here.
Kodachrome, Dwayne’s his caretaker, but we’ll get “Kodachrome” was nev-
Photo in Parsons, Kansas, to that later), on a road trip er going rock the indus-
that inspired amateur and from New York to Kansas to try or disrupt where things
professional photographers get Ben’s film developed are going, but maybe the
to make a journey to the before the shop closes and fact that Netflix is making
shop to develop their last he dies. it available to more eyes
rolls. The film, directed by Despite a lot of protesting, than would have ever seen
Mark Raso (“Copenha- they make a deal with Matt it five years ago is its own
gen”) and written by Jona- and he takes off in a red kind of silver lining for small
than Tropper (“This is Where convertible with Ben and character dramas that al-
I Leave You”) adds some Zoe. If you’ve ever seen ways seem to be on verge
stakes and drama to this, a movie before, you can of going to way of Koda-
and even riffs on the fact probably guess where this chrome.
that Kodachrome was also is going: Ups and downs “Kodachrome,” a Netflix
the title of a Paul Simon and fights and reconcili- release, is Not Rated by the
song by making the lead, ation and a burgeoning Motion Picture Association
Matt (Sudeikis), a music romance all bubble up on of America. Running time:
producer. their drive to the Midwest. 105 minutes. Two and a half
Matt is having a lousy day This is a road that has been stars out of four.q