|
really, really liked this film. borderline love. i can see how the slow pace would be boring to some, but i thought it was brilliant. compare and contrast this to coppola's somewhere, which used long takes and silence to purposely bore the audience, making us live the same mundane existence as the main character. in the american, it's used to build tension and convey information.
for example, it's not enough to tell us that jack builds guns. we have to watch the painstaking way he goes about it, we have to watch his eyes come alive in the mechanic shop as he hunts down the parts he needs, we have to watch him filing down bullets and building the silencer piece by piece. and, man, does it pay off in the end when mathilde goes to pull the trigger. a surprise that could have been overly convenient in other films, but in this one is perfect.
i also thought the scene in the woods where they're testing the gun was brilliant. mathilde's long walk up the hill to set the target, the sunlight silhouetting her legs, jack watching with the rifle in his hand, probably thinking about what happened to the last girl he got too cozy with, the long walk back down. and then her testing the gun, first one shot, a glance over as she adjusts as if to say "that one was on you, watch this," then a quick burst of perfectly placed gunfire. fantastic tension. fantastic use of silence.
it's not perfect though. the philosophical walk and talks with the priest don't go much of anywhere, and we've certainly seen the "make a stripper fall in love" story play out before (violante placido though... whew!), but none of it was enough to derail the thing.
some of the most beautiful camera work of the year. it almost looks like they're living in paintings. the final pan up... yes. one of my favorite movies this year. "i smack clowns with nouns, punch herbs with verbs..."
|
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
Pass The Popcorn
