The lines between a passion project and an exercise in navel-gazing vanity are indescribably thin, but there’s no doubt as to which side of the fence 2015’s self-indulgent and ponderous By the Sea landed on.
Having established herself as a director to watch through a pair of solid features via In the Land of Blood and Honey and Unbroken, Angelina Jolie’s third stint behind the camera was a misfire of colossal proportions. Attempting to blur the lines between art, life, fiction, reality, and romantic fantasy, the interminable ego-stroker landed with a thud.