One could go on and on analyzing this great film, but I will settle here for merely (hopefully) being entitled to my opinion.
I have my favorites (Rumble Fish, The Last Picture Show), my most moving (The Plague Dogs and Pather Panchali), greatest achievements (Ben Hur, The Remains of The Day, Wild Strawberries), my no brainers (Citizen Kane, The Third Man, Intolerance). But this is, if I were objective yet receptive, probably the Best film I've ever seen. The only film that could make his Blowup seem less than it is, which is fabulous. I saw this film only once, on the big screen, thirty years ago. Even now, just thinking about it knocks me off my foundation and forces a reevaluation of all that I believe about humans interacting between nature, themselves and each other.
After reading the other reviews, I must add one observation. All my long adult life I have read about segments of `otherwise' great films dragging. Even accounting for the 'enjoy a baseball game' vs. `NBA gives action every second' mentalities and the endless MTV Generation attention span analogies, this is a load of dung. This is not a matter of taste. It is always a matter of the filmmaker's realization going over the viewer's head, to put it bluntly. When I was a kid, scientists explained that we use only five percent of our brain. Each decade they admit to a bit more of it being used to some effect. How learned exponents of the scientific method could ignore atrophy and evolution is beyond me, but film fans are often expert in this exercise in self delusion. We don't grasp something, so we call it a mistake. We don't see how something is helping us, so we say it doesn't do anything at all. It's called ignorance, not stupidity. Nothing to be ashamed of. We can learn if we continue to expose ourselves to the work of filmmakers more talented than ourselves.
The griping about today's blockbusters being special effects and deal driven are well known, and largely true. Here is a film that illuminates and reveals, I suspect, more than we viewers can ever perceive from it. It works superbly on so many levels at once that it dazzles us with its brilliance. It informs all of that with pure filmmaking consisting of director's craft, acting ability, writing talent and cinematography. It reveals its vision with its spaces as effectively as with its active elements. It allows us to bring much of ourselves to it by not filling up the experience wall to wall with specifics. It forces us to see most films as the obvious, spoon fed tripe that they are. What more could you ask from a film?
I have my favorites (Rumble Fish, The Last Picture Show), my most moving (The Plague Dogs and Pather Panchali), greatest achievements (Ben Hur, The Remains of The Day, Wild Strawberries), my no brainers (Citizen Kane, The Third Man, Intolerance). But this is, if I were objective yet receptive, probably the Best film I've ever seen. The only film that could make his Blowup seem less than it is, which is fabulous. I saw this film only once, on the big screen, thirty years ago. Even now, just thinking about it knocks me off my foundation and forces a reevaluation of all that I believe about humans interacting between nature, themselves and each other.
After reading the other reviews, I must add one observation. All my long adult life I have read about segments of `otherwise' great films dragging. Even accounting for the 'enjoy a baseball game' vs. `NBA gives action every second' mentalities and the endless MTV Generation attention span analogies, this is a load of dung. This is not a matter of taste. It is always a matter of the filmmaker's realization going over the viewer's head, to put it bluntly. When I was a kid, scientists explained that we use only five percent of our brain. Each decade they admit to a bit more of it being used to some effect. How learned exponents of the scientific method could ignore atrophy and evolution is beyond me, but film fans are often expert in this exercise in self delusion. We don't grasp something, so we call it a mistake. We don't see how something is helping us, so we say it doesn't do anything at all. It's called ignorance, not stupidity. Nothing to be ashamed of. We can learn if we continue to expose ourselves to the work of filmmakers more talented than ourselves.
The griping about today's blockbusters being special effects and deal driven are well known, and largely true. Here is a film that illuminates and reveals, I suspect, more than we viewers can ever perceive from it. It works superbly on so many levels at once that it dazzles us with its brilliance. It informs all of that with pure filmmaking consisting of director's craft, acting ability, writing talent and cinematography. It reveals its vision with its spaces as effectively as with its active elements. It allows us to bring much of ourselves to it by not filling up the experience wall to wall with specifics. It forces us to see most films as the obvious, spoon fed tripe that they are. What more could you ask from a film?