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Touch of Evil 1958
1998 restoration version
"For me, almost everything that is called mise en scene is a big joke. In the cinema, there are very few people who are really metteurs-en-scene; there are very few who have ever had the opportunity to direct. The only mise en scene of real importance is practiced in the editing."
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Last Year at Marienbad 1961
all memories reduced to details,
endlessly repeating in our heads.
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Dogtooth 2010
Watched this as part of the 2nd Letterboxd Festival. Flawed, but well worth a watch.
Certainly excellent from a technical viewpoint, with immaculate cinematography. The use of static framing gives the camera a curious detachment from the events. Frames often comprise of single subjects (even when they are around other people), effectively conveying their social isolation. The acting is also incredibly - almost frighteningly - committed.
It's narrative content, however, is much more problematic. My biggest issue is that the…
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Flight 2012
Flight starts brilliantly, with slightly excessive but welcoming bravado. The crash sequence is terrifically constructed: clear, tense and precise. Everything starts falling apart once Denzel leaves the hospital, as it exhausts every possible cliché in a calculated attempt to evoke an emotional response. Everything wrong is encapsulated in the throw-the-bottle-against-the-wall scene, complete with a freaking thunderstorm. Still, it almost redeemed itself with a surprising turn of events, before deciding ‘naaaaah’ and twisting the knife further with a limp ending. Denzel’s performance is very good though, underrated even. John Goodman is funny as usual, but what the hell does his character add to the film?
