Mystery Train, Broken Flowers, and Dead Man are neat little films, but for the most part, this director's films are usually a bit too dry for me to get into.. they always feel overlong and don't seem to do much of anything that interests me. It's hard for me to criticize his work -- certainly, there's' nothing particularly BAD about ANY of his films -- but it's just not something I usually get into.
Along comes this film, which COMPLETELY blows me away -- I truly think this is up there with REFLECTIONS OF EVIL, NOTRE MUSIQUE, SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR, SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY, and a few precious others as the best film of the decade.
Without getting too into what the film means to me, I think this was sort of an update on the classic film BRANDED TO KILL (which the director has noted as a big influence on his work before, there are tributes to it placed in Ghost Dog for example).
This film is a huge influence on me, personally speaking... I've watched it 10 times now. An absolutely incredible film experience. I hope he makes more films like this; at the top of my head, I can't think of another film of recent memory where sound and image came together in such a compelling and beautiful way. Simply an incredible movie experience, one that is rare and should be treated with the utmost respect for its rarity, as well as its quality.
Inevitably, some people will be put off by this "boring" "mess" of a "pretentious" film, or whatever. I didn't see anything about this film that wasn't directed with the utmost care and quality, in shot composition, storytelling, dialog, character development.. what a beautiful film -- there are some truly beautiful camera movements, costumes, quotes, etc. embedded in this film. Most viewers will be hard-pressed to walk away from this film without taking some facet of inspiration.
A true work of art, one that will continue to inspire people for the rest of the humanity's existence. It's too bad no one gave a crap about it, or even tried to.
A masterpiece.
Along comes this film, which COMPLETELY blows me away -- I truly think this is up there with REFLECTIONS OF EVIL, NOTRE MUSIQUE, SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR, SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY, and a few precious others as the best film of the decade.
Without getting too into what the film means to me, I think this was sort of an update on the classic film BRANDED TO KILL (which the director has noted as a big influence on his work before, there are tributes to it placed in Ghost Dog for example).
This film is a huge influence on me, personally speaking... I've watched it 10 times now. An absolutely incredible film experience. I hope he makes more films like this; at the top of my head, I can't think of another film of recent memory where sound and image came together in such a compelling and beautiful way. Simply an incredible movie experience, one that is rare and should be treated with the utmost respect for its rarity, as well as its quality.
Inevitably, some people will be put off by this "boring" "mess" of a "pretentious" film, or whatever. I didn't see anything about this film that wasn't directed with the utmost care and quality, in shot composition, storytelling, dialog, character development.. what a beautiful film -- there are some truly beautiful camera movements, costumes, quotes, etc. embedded in this film. Most viewers will be hard-pressed to walk away from this film without taking some facet of inspiration.
A true work of art, one that will continue to inspire people for the rest of the humanity's existence. It's too bad no one gave a crap about it, or even tried to.
A masterpiece.