January
30
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GOLD (15)
GOLD (15)
Run time: 120 MINS
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramírez Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Craig T. Nelson, Stacey Keach
Synopsis: ‘Gold’ is the story of Kenny Wells, a modern-day prospector, hustler, and dreamer, desperate for a lucky break. Left with few options, Wells teams up with an equally luckless geologist to execute a grandiose, last-ditch effort: to find gold deep in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia.
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXSrDNFG8Xw
Director Stephen Gaghan [Syriana (2005), Abandon (2002)] brings this truth-is-stranger-than-fiction tale ‘inspired by true events’, with a script by Patrick Massett and an entertaining performance from Matthew McConaughey as Kenny Wells, sporting a sizeable pot belly and a balding head.
Wells has a dream one night that he knows the man who can help him find gold in Indonesia. Pawning a watch for the airfare, he leaves wife Kay (Bryce Dallas Howard) and heads off to find the enigmatic geologist Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez). When the pair do hit the motherlode, stock prices soar and they attract interest from Wall Street.
The complex plot has many twists and turns but ultimately the narrative – loosely based on the story of the Canadian Bre-X mining fraud – is unsatisfying. Wells isn’t a particularly likeable protagonist and it is hard to empathise with his obsession or to understand why his wife stuck with him in his greedy pursuit.
Images courtesy of Studio Canal