Quite possibly the most important piece of cinema in my life.
Through middle and high school, I'd obsessively watch movies. Whichever ones I could get my hands on. I made, probably, thousands of lists now lost to old journals and word docs that I can't return to. Thank god Dylan at that age didn't have Letterboxd to augment that obsession, I might've held the record on LB for most lists on the site.
There was a problem with me binging…
"Somebody is always looking for something in this part of the West. To the historian it's the Old West, to the book writer it's the Wild West, to the businessman it's the Undeveloped West...they say we're all poor and backward and I guess we are. We don't even have enough water. But to us this is our West"
When West takes on more than a direction. Part western, part noir, part thriller, part horror, part mystery, part Twilight Zone even. A man arrives in America looking for honor and answers, and all he finds is more evil and hostility than he could have ever expected.
Feels like a the middle film in a trilogy with Singin in the Rain and A Star is Born of musicals in the early 50's examining their existence, their fading stars, their genre, and the direction of Hollywood in general. Minnelli's long takes are astounding. The colors are beyond our wave of vision. Incredibly set-pieces of comedy and musical gags (the carnival at the beginning and the dance scene leading to the carriage ride are some real showstoppers).
I'm sure it's a played out phrase with this film but....that's entertainment.
A radio, a flashlight, a picture, a knife, a voice recorder, a school uniform. This film is so detailed that even objects in this movie have arcs. Characters have arcs in arcs. Multiple arcs overlap and play out at the same time. Basically every character has an arc to some penance or redemption. It somehow feels too big to be kept to only four hours but at the same token shouldn’t be any longer. Idk if you could make a…
Campion continues her streak of brilliance. Forming a character and a world so harrowing without even showing the worst of it. We see the wolfs jaws from afar. Every performance in the picture is pitch perfect. Will (SilentDawn) on twitter said that Cumberbatch was channeling his inner Lee Marvin here and I couldn't think a better comparison for his rugged, dark persona than that. Kirsten Dunst continues to be one of the best actors of the past 25 years. Jesse…
