Sunday, 19 April 2009
Let The Right One In
Reasons I liked this:
- Any scary aspect is created out of a wonderful creation and nurturing of atmosphere, rather than on moments that make you jump. The film takes place in a world in which strange, scary things happen - a man goes round killing people by drugging them, hanging them upside down and draining their blood, a small girl vampire jumps down on passersby, a man deforms himself with acid to prevent his apprehension by the police...
- As Claire said, it's ripe for film students. It tackles a coming-of-age story, a love story, a story of obsession, of desire, of family, of the alienation of childhood and gets it all right. The vampire stuff is done well, but the story is about far more than that.
- The cinematography. There's never a shot that takes you out of the story, that makes you go "wow", but there are lots of quietly amazing shots. It opens with a distorted reflection of Oskar on a windowpane, and there are great shots of schools, shops and the city at night.
- The ending. Absolutely terrifying, absolutely wonderful!
Definitely another contender for a film of the year.
- Any scary aspect is created out of a wonderful creation and nurturing of atmosphere, rather than on moments that make you jump. The film takes place in a world in which strange, scary things happen - a man goes round killing people by drugging them, hanging them upside down and draining their blood, a small girl vampire jumps down on passersby, a man deforms himself with acid to prevent his apprehension by the police...
- As Claire said, it's ripe for film students. It tackles a coming-of-age story, a love story, a story of obsession, of desire, of family, of the alienation of childhood and gets it all right. The vampire stuff is done well, but the story is about far more than that.
- The cinematography. There's never a shot that takes you out of the story, that makes you go "wow", but there are lots of quietly amazing shots. It opens with a distorted reflection of Oskar on a windowpane, and there are great shots of schools, shops and the city at night.
- The ending. Absolutely terrifying, absolutely wonderful!
Definitely another contender for a film of the year.
Thursday, 9 April 2009
In The City of Sylvia
Reasons I loved this:
- Made me forget it was a film. A scene of a man sitting on the terrace cafe of Strasbourg's Conservatoire watching people drinking and chatting lasts for over 20 minutes. As a summation of another film put it, "pure cinema". As Peter Bradshaw put it, "In the City of Sylvia reminds you that most cinema discourages you from looking, really looking".
- Sound design as good as Elephant. Came out of the cinema with an exaggerated ear for footsteps, the rise and fall of chattering voices.
- The lack of dialogue. One scene of a conversation in nearly an hour and a half.
&
- the quietness of the film.
- And the length of the takes. Long, long, long...
- The loveliness of Strasbourg in the summer. Made me want to go there.
&
- The depth of field of the compositions. Watching a square opening onto many alleys with no idea where people were going to come from, sound emanating from behind the camera, beyond the camera, people crossing, passing each other and the camera, a bottle rolling down the street, a bicycle going past...
- The hints at other directors - Hitchcock, Linklater etc ...
- The ability to create amazing suspense from a simple encounter. When the man finally asks the girl if she's Sylvia, I, like Bradshaw, was on the edge of my seat.
- The many interpretations it gives. Lil hated it (at first?) for its focus on beautiful women. I saw it as an extremely subtle comment on the images we create, both in terms of the dreams we make for ourselves based on very little fact, and the images we as a society create of women and romantic love.
- The imaginative visuals created from filming the reflections the windows of moving trams - people look ghostly, like apparitions, their form not certain.
- This is definitely in my top films of the year so far. Can't make up my mind whether it has toppled The Class or not. Here's the trailer:
And here, actually, is the first 9 minutes of the film! This Youtube user has uploaded the whole film in 9 parts. As there's hardly any dialogue, anyone can watch it!
- Made me forget it was a film. A scene of a man sitting on the terrace cafe of Strasbourg's Conservatoire watching people drinking and chatting lasts for over 20 minutes. As a summation of another film put it, "pure cinema". As Peter Bradshaw put it, "In the City of Sylvia reminds you that most cinema discourages you from looking, really looking".
- Sound design as good as Elephant. Came out of the cinema with an exaggerated ear for footsteps, the rise and fall of chattering voices.
- The lack of dialogue. One scene of a conversation in nearly an hour and a half.
&
- the quietness of the film.
- And the length of the takes. Long, long, long...
- The loveliness of Strasbourg in the summer. Made me want to go there.
&
- The depth of field of the compositions. Watching a square opening onto many alleys with no idea where people were going to come from, sound emanating from behind the camera, beyond the camera, people crossing, passing each other and the camera, a bottle rolling down the street, a bicycle going past...
- The hints at other directors - Hitchcock, Linklater etc ...
- The ability to create amazing suspense from a simple encounter. When the man finally asks the girl if she's Sylvia, I, like Bradshaw, was on the edge of my seat.
- The many interpretations it gives. Lil hated it (at first?) for its focus on beautiful women. I saw it as an extremely subtle comment on the images we create, both in terms of the dreams we make for ourselves based on very little fact, and the images we as a society create of women and romantic love.
- The imaginative visuals created from filming the reflections the windows of moving trams - people look ghostly, like apparitions, their form not certain.
- This is definitely in my top films of the year so far. Can't make up my mind whether it has toppled The Class or not. Here's the trailer:
And here, actually, is the first 9 minutes of the film! This Youtube user has uploaded the whole film in 9 parts. As there's hardly any dialogue, anyone can watch it!
The Man From London
Very disappointing after the masterful first twenty minutes, especially from the director that brought us this:
How wonderful this sequence is! It could be a film on its own.
How wonderful this sequence is! It could be a film on its own.
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
In A Lonely Place
Nicholas Ray's GREAT, GREAT film with Humphrey Bogart as a screenwriter who is suspected by his new lover of killing a girl found murdered after visiting him. Her suspicions grow and their relationship becomes more and more fraught...
Quite possibly the best film I've seen this year so far. The Class down to second, Rachel Getting Married down to 3.
Quite possibly the best film I've seen this year so far. The Class down to second, Rachel Getting Married down to 3.
Monday, 23 March 2009
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