Movie Mini-Reviews (April 2006-...)
Submitted by diaskeaus on Thu, 04/06/2006 - 02:10
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- The Tin Drum (4/5/06): At times exquisitely filmed, at times hideous to watch; there were several moments when I attempted to look away from the film, as the material on the screen was too repulsive to watch. To know that such acts of despair and horror actually might exist is enough to throw one into a fright of existential depression. In particular, the one scene when one of the husbands grips the decapitated head of a boar, and pulls still-alive wriggling eels out from its slimy mouth, and then subsequentely serves the eels for breakfast the next morning. Probably not a film I will watch again, yet glad to have been through the experience. I do hope they do not make more films like this though.
- The Bridge Over the River Kwai (4/5/06): I was pleased with the result of this film, although I could have seen it end victoriously just as well as tragedic. I would have preferred a more positive ending, although the tragedic ending does serve its purpose. Excellent characterizations on both sides of the war; the culture clash was a pleasure to see. I prefer Shogun though, in terms of contrasting cultures, but they did a well-enough job with the time and material they had with this particular film.
- Rear Window (4/5/06): I fell asleep when I tried to watch the film the first time, so I attempted the next morning. Many scenes of in-action, with what I learned later to be one of Hitchcock's blessings upon film, the subjective point of view, although when watching it the first time, was very boring. My second watching proved much more fruitful and I enjoyed puzzling out what was going to happen. For once I was actually wrong about the outcome of the movie, which surprised me. I did identify with the main character; that is a line of work I would like to be in, and often I find myself in the same conundrum he himself is in. The Everyman worked perfectly for me.
