The Goldfinch

Adapting a 784-page Pulitzer Prize-winning novel into a seamless drama is a heavy task. Too heavy, as it turns out. Theo (Ansel Elgort, above with Willa Fitzgerald) was 13 when he witnessed his mom die in a bombing at a NYC art museum. He survives and manages to secretly salvage a famous painting of a goldfinch — which remains a tangible piece of hope in his life. At 149 minutes, the meandering odyssey would have benefited from streamlining: Theo’s drug addiction and relationship with his abusive dad (Luke Wilson) and his dad’s sneering ex-girlfriend (Sarah Paulson) are two of the many plot threads that twist in the wind. Only his special bond with a maternal figure (Nicole