Experimenter (2015)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Brilliant and touching

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

First off, Dr. Milgram's work is a great subject for a film and left the door open for a million ways for this story to be told. The positive side: It's a well-cast rendition which covers the basic points in the man's life. For someone who has never read about his work, I think it's a great introduction. The performances are not bad, but I think as a result of a weak script, the action plays out in a very dry and unemotional way. Stylistic decisions (such as direct address of the audience by the title character in almost every scene) make it very hard to take this film seriously or to have any real response. Many moments in the film seem to be reenactments done as snippets of a bad documentary on Milgram, where others hit right on the dot.All in all they tried to cover too much material for one film and should have found something more specific to focus on. They style cinematography, direct address of camera, and moments of green-screened action on black and white backgrounds, make the film very hard to suspend disbelief. It was nice to see someone attempt a style outside the Hollywood formula, but sadly this one didn't choose the right methods of experimentation.

By itself, this is not one of the world's greatest movies. It certainly attempted new venues in making semi-documentaries, and most of it is easily watchable, even humorous at times. But occasionally, things about the life of Stanley Milgram get thrown in at odd angles that don't really support the story, which begs the question of whether or not it would have been better to focus on the experiments, instead of the experimenter.That being said, the punch of the experiments is the thrill here. This is fare for the ones that seek brain-food. If you don't want your little gray cells to feast on a banquet of ideas, look elsewhere. There's not really a lot of anything else at this table.This is a movie that follows (generally) the life of the sociologist Stanly Milgram (played very well by Peter Sarsgaard). The man's main experiment, the Obedience Experiment, is of course his most famous and his most shocking one of the film (and of his life) and it is delivered to us early with the help of Winona Ryder (playing his wife), Jim Gaffigan (playing his partner in crime, so to speak) and even Anthony Edwards (playing one of the experimentees). It is all delivered well enough to ease you into the mind of this man, where his focuses were as a sociologist, and at the same time leaves you uneasy with what it is that he discovered with his work.Winona doesn't bring down the house here, but she does a solid job. Nobody really delivers anything in the realm of amazing here, but that's apparently not the point of the film. Whether or not they intended it, the experiments themselves do all the work of plot, character development, and intrigue that really carries you on throughout the film. The plot of this man's life is ordinary, the path taken throughout the movie is not spectacular. Everything goes back to the experiments themselves, and they are the star of this film. And amazingly, they do their job well.Although you will certainly be amused and enlightened by the lighter, less disturbing experiments done by this man, it will most certainly be the Obedience Experiment that will leave you with chills. The results of the experiment speak to the future generations of humanity, and are frightening to face in the calm, soft-colored palette of the movie. Perhaps it is the weight of that one experiment that carries you through the movie, waiting to see what Stanley comes up with next. Nothing he ever did beyond that first experiment ever compared to it, but the weight of it is/was so heavy that its impact is worth the price of admission.There's not really anything else to say. For the sake of the Obedience Experiment itself and what it means to the people of this planet, at the very least, you should watch it.Even if you decide to shut it off, once Mr. Milgram tries to move on to other things.

It's 1961 Yale University. Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) is conducting a social experiment with assistants James McDonough (Jim Gaffigan) and Alan Elms. Test subjects are told to deliver electric shocks to a stranger played by McDonough. The shocks are actually fake and most participants obey. Stanley meets and marries Sasha (Winona Ryder). He continues to teach and work on other experiments like lost letters, and six degrees of separation. His publication of Obedience to Authority leads to criticism of his findings and the ethics of the experiment itself.This is a solid biopic. The experiments are intriguing and even compelling at times. For some, the Obedience experiment may be eye-opening. Personally, I didn't realize the origins of the six degrees of separation. The movie feels informative but lacks real tension or danger. Sarsgaard's performance is mannered and expertly done. Jim Gaffigan adds a little bit of needed humor. I wouldn't mind fictionalizing a nemesis for Milgram even if it's only in his head. Filmmaker Michael Almereyda literally puts an elephant in the room and references Adolf Eichmann. He could have easily used a Nazi as Milgram's imagined enemy. Almereyda does plenty of visual experimentation to liven up the movie but sometimes, the scenes are better off with a straight forward telling. The elephant in the room is too cartoonish and on the nose. The rear-projection driving is unnecessary. The black and white photo background doesn't work if the scene is supposed to be real. At times, Almereyda seems to be going out of his way to be inventive.

A movie about the experiments on the human behaviour and for us, there's nothing in it but to study those characters along. This is more a documentary than the cheerful characters and the story with a twist. So forget it if you are looking for an entertainment film.Based on the true story of an American social psychologist Stanley Milgram. The film narrates the story of his controversial experiments and personal life that takes us back to the 60s. Not all the discoveries were accepted in its first revelation. Sometimes it takes time to realise its benefits like perhaps this one.The film was boring because it was a drama about an important turning point in the human psychology. So all the major parts of the story were just talking and it never required physical stretch from its characters like running and chasing around. If you're interested in psychology and its related stuffs, then you might like it.Besides, the romance was a small part of what the film was focused on as its title mentioned. It does not mean I dislike it for not enjoying. In fact, I would have rated it better only if it was a documentary film. But still I'm happy with the product. Overall a decent film with the decent performances.6/10