For your consideration: josh O’Connor. In anything.

I kicked off the year with Josh in a little film called Bonus Track, which was based off a treatment he wrote. He has since appeared in four films all in the proximity of the Oscars. You could consider him for The History Of Sound, the Mastermind, Rebuilding, and Wake Up dead Man. this guy can’t stop and won’t stop. For this he brought along future Oscar 2026 nominee Amy Madigan, as well as a solid ensemble. And, for what it is worth, his performance here is impressive. It reminded me a little of Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, how an Australian actor mastered this rural accent. o’Connor, who broke through playing Charles on the Crown, is decidedly not rural American. You wouldn’t know from this performance.

I’m also someone who usually fights for a film based on performances. So this is uncharacteristic of me, but Rebuilding was a slog. It is critically acclaimed by everyone else, so if you are the one person who feels like they are being gaslit, I’m with you. I’m in the minority here, because rebuilding felt like a fifteen minute concept stretched into a feature. The pacing here was brutal. It isn’t even a long film, and by the thirty minute mark, I would have bet my life I was an hour in.

We live in a world of technology and push notifications. So, often I have to recognize, if I was so bored that I kept checking my phone to see if a new push notification had even come up, it means something. Despite a stellar lead performance, and a supporting cast of actors I respect, this was like watching molasses. It had some strong points even about what happens to the land after a natural disaster, and the value of it. we assume it is good to still have the land, but perhaps not.

It isn’t a terrible film by any means, but I’d be remiss if I just chimed in like I wasn’t looking for an exit the whole time.I also did have a screener with no audio description, and I’m unsure if this has a track or not. I feel pretty secure that audio description would not have pushed this across into fresh. it can only do just so much.

josh O’Connor is a compelling reason to slog through Rebuilding, but this film felt like it was three hours long, while only actually being half that.

Rotten: Final Grade: 5.1/10