Young man working in an art gallery ends up acting an assistant to Salvador Dali during his preparation for a gallery show in the mid 1970's.
Let me say it at the start Sir Ben Kingsley is the reason that DALILAND is worth seeing. Kingsley gives a towering performance that has him disappearing completely into the role. Watching him early on in recreations of TV appearances I thought they were using the actual footage. This maybe Kingsley's best performance in years. Certainly it's the first in a long time where he is full invested in the proceedings. I would like to think that Oscar will notice.
The film itself is okay. A more or less standard issue biography that hits all the right notes. While there is nothing wrong with the film, there is also nothing exceptional either. It never goes the extra mile to be something that isn't just among the pack of dramas released this year. Blame it on a good cast not being anywhere near the magnificent central performance- kind of like anyone who was actually around the real Dali disappearing within his aura.
My reservation of the film as a whole, Kingsley is as good as he's ever been and as such is worth the time to see the film.
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