The quirks in Paolo Sorrentino's quasi-comedy This Must Be the Place are so deep-set that his insistence on filtering them through every component of his filmmaking borders on overkill. But it does, at least, represent stylistic completion, and the film is fittingly amusing without forcing the humour out too aggressively - an achievement within this sub-genre (is this what is meant by 'dramedy'?). Sean Penn pushes the whimsicality of his role to the extent that he becomes more of an exercise in alternative comic characterisation for the actor, rather than one element among many within this story; it's all in the eyes, though, where Penn invests his impressive emotional intuition, his understanding of the human being beneath the make-up, and Cheyenne's persona is slowly, delicately unveiled. Penn and the stylists do such a terrific job that the film's final scene jars horribly, solely for the visual transformation. Such a meandering story, and told in such an unhurried manner, the runtime is too long by at least 20 minutes, but there's something to savour in every moment. Sorrentino directs with a care for finer details - he might care too much, though, as he occasionally makes his point a little too emphatically, and many of these cute touches might have been better employed in a film that didn't make such constant use of them. No doubt there will be some people turned off by this slightly affected approach, but it usually feels in good service to the overall film, and I find it hard to imagine any reasonable person finding it wholly intolerable - there are many natural performances from good actors, the colourful cinematography is very pleasing, there are scenes of quiet, unusual dramatic heft, and the soundtrack is lovely, with a welcome contribution (as one would expect, given the title) by David Byrne, in a number of roles.
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