Change Your Image
alooftrashman
Reviews
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Tarantino in His Prime
A film for most modern movie fans that needs no introduction. Quentin Tarantino's ode to the 50s noir mystery and about a dozen other film genres, but that's Tarantino's bread and butter.
You've got excellent performances from Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, and Uma Thurman, just to name a few. You've got hilarious dialog (Why can't you just hit the guy?) and an abstract story structure that will most likely have you confused til the very end. Not to mention samurai swords and a gimp! What's so great about Tarantino movies is that they very much resemble modern art.
What I mean by that is you watch them, and you're never entirely sure what you're watching, but by the film's end, you're left with a sense of completion and totality that you rarely get in any other cinematic experience. Do yourself a favor and watch this movie. You can thank me later.
Stardust Memories (1980)
A Juxtaposed Mess
I have a tough time reviewing this movie, and even a tougher time recommending it to anyone. On one hand, you've got Woody Allen's most daring script, and most abstract film structure - and overall thematically his tightest movie. On the other hand, you have a movie that's incredibly dark, almost absent of the neuroticism that makes Allen movies Allen movies.
That being said, I found myself equal parts enjoying and confused by this movie. I like the idea of the movie being told in flashbacks at a lecture that Allen is giving, but the structure of the movie doesn't give that away til the end. So you're stuck wondering if the movie is a dream or not, it almost takes away from following what kind of meandering plot there is.
The movie is also incredibly European, I feel like this film was shot specifically for Cannes. That being said, Allen still finds his trademark ways to get his neurotic nature in there, and for some reason STILL ends up with women that he has no business being with. However, like I said in the opening, this movie has straddled the line between American film and European experiment, neither excelling or faltering at either. So this film simply is, and proceed at your own risk.
East of Eden (1955)
Save Yourself the Time and Read the Book
John Steinbeck made a routine out of literizing the Salinas Valley. In his book East of Eden, it took a Cain and Abel-esquire route, talking of brother's keepers and the fight over a woman. That being said, I found the pacing of the book much more appropriate than the movie.
But, taking into account that this movie was only a slice of the book, I have to say what was here was decent enough. James Dean is admirable as Cal, and some of the cinematography for its time was outstanding (that heat wave felt so real I took my sweatshirt off when I watched it.) Overall, a movie with some clear-cut Biblical overtones, but if you can ignore that, there's many worse ways to spend two hours than watching this movie.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Worth Watching, Again and Again
The year is 1964. Communists are coming in at all sides, America's biggest fear is to succumb to the nuclear bomb and the Soviet Union. So a movie is made, and Stanley Kubrick is at its helm. The result is Dr. Strangelove.
A movie about a meglomaniacal general wanting to foster a war, it starts with its dark comedy right off the bat. I found Peter Sellers in all of his various roles in this movie on the top of his game, I was laughing with every line and thinking about every other line. The framing of each scene was also exquisite, I found myself rewatching countless dialog scenes just to take in all the ambiance.
The plot itself was a little tough to follow, with its abstract story structure. That being said, the plot itself I think was taking a backseat to all of the thematic structuring of the United States love affair with the atomic bomb and death and destruction.
A fantastic movie, worth watching for any history major.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Split Down the Middle
Citizen Kane is a curious study in American film. It's lauded as one of the greatest works of film, ever. Sometimes in the same breath, it's lambasted as a hackneyed story and a waste of a film reel. So what is the real Citizen Kane? Well, in a simple breath, this movie is meant more to be studied than it is to be enjoyed. The film itself is somewhat of a biography of William Randolph Hearst, but takes liberties to make a more interesting story. The story, however, takes a backseat to everything else going on in the film.
From the first scene on, it's apparent that this movie is simply different than any other movie of its time. For instance, in the first scene with the boy playing outside, the camera pans back, revealing that it is actually inside of a house. Two characters come into the foreground and are having a conversation while sitting at a dinner table, but the camera still keeps focused on the window outside. The viewer gets to capture everything happening at once, from the parents deep conversation indoors to the child's lighthearted play with his sled Rosebud. All with the choice of the viewer's eye.
This is what makes Kane special. That and the revolutionary way to tell a story through flashbacks, which is normal now, but in that day, was, as they would say, "the bee's knees." Still, boring plot does knock this film down a peg or two. Still amazing in its own right though.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
The Right Thing, Eh?
Any piece of film that leaves you asking questions about yourself and your own morality has certainly done the job it's intended to. And in Spike Lee's seminal 1989 slice of life drama "Do the Right Thing," Lee forces us to ask ourselves what exactly that right thing is.
Lee plays the main character, Mookie, as he struggles through inner-city life working for a somewhat racist Italian pizza shoppe owner. When an altercation at the pizza place leads to a death of Mookie's friend, and racial tensions rise, Mookie is left with no choice but to start destroying the pizza place, lest the angry mob turns their hatred towards the actual owners.
In that space, Lee challenges us to wonder if what Mookie does is right. The film itself portrays the in-your-face nature of an entropic urban project, complete with homages to 80's rap videos of the day and graffiti of the town's one and only hero, Mike Tyson. That in it of itself should explain what's wrong with the town, but Lee challenges us to look further than surface level.
And that's what this film does so well, is make you believe that this is almost a documentary, not a stylized film. And in that, Lee succeeds tremendously.
Fargo (1996)
The Coens on Top of Their Game
For anybody familiar with this directing duo, this movie needs no introduction. Many consider Fargo to be the Coen brother's finest work, and I heartily concur.
Even though the movie is entitled Fargo, the entire movie is set in Minnesota, making full use of the goofy Minnesota-slang, adding to the dark comedy. Dialogue is what makes Coen brothers movies so special, so authentic, and this movie is no different.
There's the frankness of the police officer "He was funny looking / In a general way," or the clever use of punny double talk. "Oh I think my lunch just came up. No, it's just morning sickness," as Maggie Gunderson (played so eloquently by Frances McDormand) says after examining a dead corpse with a bullet in her head. But overall, it's the pace and in-depth nature and believability of the world that draws you in and rewards multiple viewings; being able to catch subtle character nuances on subsequent screenings is very fun, especially with Coen Bros. movies.
And last but not least, this movie contains two actor-defining roles, as to my mind Steve Buscemi (Carl Showalter) and William H. Macy (Jerry Lundegaard) have never done finer work than they did whilst filming Fargo.
Casablanca (1942)
One of the Greatest For A Reason
There's so many reasons to like Casablanca, it's almost immeasurable. But I'm going to try.
You've got two acting greats in Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, which play their roles so admirably and naturally you'd swear they were born for these parts.
You've got Michael Curtiz, who, besides being an filming legend, went overboard in this film. He used, instead of his great actors, the scenes and shots themselves to move the plot along, a person watching wouldn't necessarily need to know the exact happenings of the entire plot to appreciate the scene - he uses diagetic off-screen sounds perfectly, and the frame always gives you the sense of exactly what's going on in a scene instantly, a rare feat in cinema that I may have seen once or twice prior to this.
And of course, there's the thematic overview of what's going on in Europe, at the release of this film swamped in the mire of World War II, this film provides an allegory for what the United States was doing up until that point - staying out of it until they were forced to act. The movie makes it look just as noble when Bogart stands up to the Nazis (this time taking place in a music vs. music overpowering scene), then when the United States actually invades Europe on D-Day.
Simply excellent.
The Graduate (1967)
As Awkward as Hitting Puberty
Wow, the sixties were an interesting time period. You've got the counter-culture Easy Riders on one end, and sweeping cougar trend starting with The Graduate.
Mike Nichols knew what he wanted in this movie, and to sum it up in one word, it would be awkwardness. The camera's sense of space and character's sense of space during the entire movie was jarring and sometimes very uncomfortable to watch, but that's what Nichols was striving for, I think. You have Ben Braddock (played admirably by Dustin Hoffman) just graduating from college, and like so many other listless 20-somethings of that era, had no idea what he wanted. Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) of course had plans of her own.
While mothers preying on young awkward men is nothing new nowadays, at the time this movie came out it was landmark and debaucherous all at the same time. Likewise, this movie was anchored by a haunting tailored soundtrack by Simon & Garfunkel, and some of their best songs were written specifically for this film. Tracks like "Scarborough Fair" and "Sounds of Silence" add to the awkward coming of age in the movie, feeling comforted and uneasy at the same time.
All in all, definitely a movie worth watching, if not for its racy content, then certainly for some of the best cinematography of the era.
Easy Rider (1969)
The Sixties Incarnate
In a haze of movements and head nods, comes the tale the leaves as quickly as it begins. Easy Rider epitomizes what the 60s stood for, from counter-culture to wayfaring across the country.
Dennis Hopper delivers this visceral ride the only way a B-movie can; and in many ways that's advantageous to the movie. Low production values give the essence of rawness, and the verisimilitude for the era is about as close as it gets to feeling like an actual documentary. Peter Fonda and Hopper are great as leads, and their ride cross-country never feels contrived or out of place.
Aimless, perhaps, but that's the era. The music is top-notch, every anti-establishment artist sans CCR can be found with a track here. Characters come as quickly as they go, as random listless faces populate the screen at every turn. Jack Nicholson's unfortunate foray into his first try with marijuana ends with tragedy, and I have to wonder if Hopper was trying to say that people driving cross-country doing random drugs and meeting random people had ill effects on the people that got tangled in their web of debauchery.
They got theirs in the end, and again I have to wonder what Hopper and Fonda were trying to say by getting the lead axed. Perhaps they were going for different representations of the American flag and how the South perceives northerners, or hippies vs. stiffs. At any rate, any movie that makes you think this much by doing so little is definitely worth my time, even if the ending was abrupt.
The Naked Kiss (1964)
Not a Big Budget, But a Lot of Heart
In a world where the financial backing of studios has collapsed, it really took creative vision for movies get any respect in the 50s and 60s. Enter The Naked Kiss, by Samuel Fuller.
A story about a prostitute who desperately wants to reform herself, and was willing to mortgage her soul to do it. It made sense that the only person that she could connect with was just as damaged as she, but in a much more perverse and morose way. The film makes the most out of its limited budget, using smart scene directing to get a sense of time and place over dialog (the banners in the town made a nice visual bookend to the movie.) There was definitely a creative vision that went into the story structure, as time wasn't as linear as it first appeared. There was effective and somewhat jarring use of dream sequences, and that's the essence of a dream, to jar one's self from reality. I found myself rooting for the heroine, played by Constance Towers (and as an aside, if she played a prostitute, I'm surprised she didn't go by her real name.) With the hays codes seemingly finally lifted, this movie benefits, as it shows the gritty nature of the underbelly of society - using playful euphemisms such as "make a bulldog bust his chain" and "pretty good at popping the cork if the finish is right," and the whole side story about a brothel centered around bon-bons was as surreal as it was disturbing and funny. The child actors I could have done without, but hey, it's B-movie. At least everyone ends up losing in the end, even though Kelly gets absolved of her crimes she had to mortgage her soul to do it. Great film, just shy of immortality.
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
All She Wanted Was The Spotlight
Normally, I save these reviews to examine the technical aspects of what goes into a film. However, when a film like Sunset Boulevard plays across my screen, I feel compelled to go into a deep analysis about the story, especially one as self-aware as this.
A screenwriter Joseph Gillis (William Holden) escaping from creditors gets a flat tire and parks his car in a seemingly abandoned extravagant mansion. He enters, to find the house very much inhabited by a faded silent film actress Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) and her butler, Max (Erich Von Manstein). This is what sets up the rest of the plot, and it's my personal belief that this entire movie was an allegory for the decline of the movie industry in the 1950s.
Gloria Swanson, for one, is best known for her silent films - and she essentially plays a hammed-up crazy version of herself in this film, wanting to relive the vanity and glamor she once had on the silver screen. If she represents the old, Holden's Gillis represents the new - a writer trying to make it using hollow plot techniques (a baseball movie called Bases Loaded? Come on...) There are several industry in-jokes that make this movie a joy, including (but not limited to:) A screenplay that started about the dust bowl being filmed entirely in a torpedo boat, extras only being limited to three drinks of punch per, and the realization that actors make terrible writers.
As stated before, though, it's the allegorical content that really makes this movie watchable again and again and again. If Gillis represents the new studio movement and Desmond represents ye olde guard, the story takes on a completely new light. New studios are hamstrung by the old crowd and the old standards (Hays codes, etc.), and they pass up opportunities on new properties and new developments (represented by Nancy Olsen's character Betty Schaefer), standing by fading stars holding onto their last glimpses of vanity, until they are literally bled dry and dying; as seen by Gillis' death. A fantastic movie, and I didn't even get to mention the cameo by Buster Keaton, silent film legend who unsurprisingly has one line of dialog.
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Crawford Shines in this Pseudo-Noir
It's a given that all mothers love their daughters. But if they knew to what extent they'd go through, it's doubtful that a movie like Mildred Pierce would end up the way it did.
Joan Crawford plays the titular role, and all she wants for her daughters is to have a good life. This cased around a whodunit sort of mystery, and this movie has an instant hook. Told in a few flashbacks at the typical detective's office, it's immediately apparent that director Michael Curtiz wants us to think that these flashbacks were all peaches and cream, instantly shifting the color schemes from a nighttime rainy setting with dark buildings everywhere to beaches, sunlight, and white stucco houses. It's arguable that this technique is meant to throw you, especially as the movie wears on it's apparent that Mildred's daughter (Ann Blyth) will take whatever she can get.
Thematically this movie is all over the board, but the one that sticks in my mind the most is the generational wear that parents have on their children. All Mildred wanted for her daughter was the life she thought she deserved. And she planted this thought in Veda's head, and that's all Veda thought about: the life she deserved. In the end it's what consumed both of them, and essentially ruined them and all of the lives that touched them. I found it also very interesting that the male actors took a backseat in this film for this era, but refreshing at the same time.
And you probably won't, but I saw the twist coming 20 seconds in. Good luck, a great watch.
The Unknown (1927)
Browning's Entrance Into Horror Proves Speech Doesn't Equal Greatness
At first, I was put off by this movie. A silent film about a carnie with no arms? Why am I wasting my time? But I sat, I stayed, and I'm glad I did.
One of Joan Crawford's earliest works, although she plays the love interest (of course purity rings true by her constantly wearing white)- it's all about the extent to which Lon Cheney's title role will go to win her over.
The movie is build as a horror, but I find this movie very tragic in a Shakespearian sense. He was so jealous that he had to hide the fact that he had arms for his show, but that's why Nanon loved him so much - that he went to extremes and cut off his own arms in a very trippy sojourn in the middle of the flick.
Lon Cheney's eyes are what make his role, as you can always tell what he's feeling by the intensity of his stare or the softness of his gaze. It's no surprise that Crawford learned her acting chops from him, as there's so much more to film than just spoken word and a plot.
By the time he's come back - freshly amputated - so he didn't have to lie anymore, Nanon has already gotten over her fear of "manly" arms. His descent into this state of madness is accentuated by his ever-darkening wardrobe, and by the film's final act what I assume was once very colorful carnie attire is now replaced with almost a completely black get-up.
I'm not usually a silent film fan, but I found myself not only liking this movie a ton, I actually rented it after I saw it and will most likely see it again. Excellent.
Stagecoach (1939)
Breakfast Club, Western-style
So what happens when you throw eight people on a crowded stagecoach that have no idea who the other is? I'd initially say that hilarity and self-awakening ensues, but anybody that watches this movie isn't watching it for the plot, they're watching it because it's a hallmark of cinematic production.
Take the dramatic entrance of John Wayne. The perfect entrance, I should say, as the camera pans quickly in to show the new cowboy arrival, Instantly across the nation women swoon. And it's little things like that that made Orson Welles watch this umpteen times.
There's also the entrance of the Geronimo Indians, another textbook way (nowadays, anyways)to shoot a buildup scene, in the classic ABABABA style, creating tension by constantly shifting between the Indians and the patrons on the stagecoach.
The plot is really inconsequential to a movie that's all about the details, and anyone can pick up several textbook techniques by just watching a few minutes of this film. I keep saying "textbook" and I have to remind myself, this movie wrote the book.
Frankenstein (1931)
Scared? Probably Not, But I Feel Warm and Fuzzy
Everyone who is anyone who knows about movies knows about Frankenstein. Everyone knows the plot. Every frame of this movie has been analyzed and dissected and committed to many a film buff's memory. The interesting thing, though, is that nearly 80 years later it's still as visceral and deep as it ever was.
Using a mix of pre-built sets (to give it that moody vibe) and on location shooting that really captures the essence of birth and wonder, we watch a man in Dr. Frankenstein care for his tragically misunderstood monster in a somewhat strict way. Boris Karloff plays the monster with much aplomb, at first barely self-aware but constantly learning.
There's almost too many themes to count in this classic, ranging from the human effect on personal development to a man understanding his place (or lack thereof, and then later understanding his actual place) - to the misanthrope nature of building a person out of spare body parts (read: don't do it!). Great movie, could only be better if John Lithgow played Dr. Frankenstein. (Harry and the Hendersons, anyone?)
Lifeboat (1944)
A Buried Hitchcock Gem (Aren't They All?)
I'm a big fan of John Steinbeck, but I've never heard of this story. I'm also a fan of Hitchcock, and likewise - I had never heard of this hidden gem, so I came into this movie with certain expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised.
A very claustrophobic movie, as survivors from a German U-Boat attack are adrift at sea. A somewhat ensemble cast, this movie at equal points feels like Stagecoach and Inherit the Wind. Hitchcock achieves a general feeling of isolation in this movie, as almost every shot is a closeup of someone talking, making the audience feel cut off from the rest of the world the same way the refugees are.
Several people from disparate pasts join together, and things are complicated as a German soldier survives his way onto the boat. Racism and ethnocentrism is dealt with beautifully in this movie, as several Americans almost changed their tune as they say the German try and take charge, somewhat successfully. Although when the soldier was shot this movie did border on propaganda (it was 1944... so German's weren't exactly sympathetic figures.) A diamond in the rough of 1940's movies, worth the 96 minute runtime.
Notorious (1946)
My Favorite Hitchcock
Sure, many people remember Psycho or The Birds. But this gem gets shuffled under the rug too often when it comes to Hitchcock classics, and any fan of suspense should give this film a try.
Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is sent to investigate a Nazi holdout in South America, and she's forced to marry her former hubby Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains) while she really is attracted to her operative partner, TR Devlin (Cary Grant). Grant and Rains make wonderful foils of one another, as Sebastian is constantly the one showing her affection, even though he's supposed to be the one investigated. On the flip side, Devlin is constantly pushing her away, although in the end in a classic Hitchcock move our perceptions of good and evil are turned on their head.
You begin to see Hitchcock's genius in this movie from the very start. The way he uses soft focus to convey a sense of a hangover (not to mention the disorienting upside-down camera), or the perfect foils as the light liquid from her hangover in the beginning saved he state of mind but the dark liquid towards the end is what ended up killing her. It's inconsequential what the liquid actually is - the use of light and color in a black and white film gets the point across just as well, and it's that kind of detail that makes this movie shine.
The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)
Wild-West, Crucible-style.
"Down in Texas where I come from we just go out get a man and string him up." So says part of an angry mob, and thus begins this murder-mystery Western. Peter Fonda plays a vigilante cowboy coming through town, and his acting as a loner with a heart of gold seeking justice is played to perfection.
As the film wears on, it's apparent the one who is thought that murdered Larry Kinkaid didn't actually murder him, but the blind mob of angry townspeople wouldn't listen. It mirrors the plot of the classic Miller play "The Crucible," and it caries the same themes - that a people seeking vengeance will forgo seeking the truth to fill the void left by death of someone close - as in "The Crucible" - resulting in the hanging and shooting of three innocent men.
Art direction almost gives away the twist that Martin never really killed Kinkaid, after all... what man in a Western that doesn't wear a hat is ever the bad guy? His lack of a hat screamed innocence from the second he was on the screen, but the mob only had blood in their eyes.
The sets of the movie appear to be on-location, and it recreates the atmosphere of the Wild-West very well, and the mob-scene mentality is very visceral. I'm also a big fan of bookend endings, with Gil and Art riding out of town as they rode in, with intentions of delivering Martin's letter to his family.
The Palm Beach Story (1942)
The Original Wedding and a Funeral
Boy meets girl. Girl marries guy. Maid dies. This is the essence of this off-the-wall movie, as Gerry Jeffers (Claudette Colbert) divorces her husband Tom (Joel McCrea) to marry a rich man, Hackensacker (Rudy Vallee) The premise for leaving was based on Tom's lack of stable income, a common ploy that gives this movie a timeless and relevant quality to it. Not to mention there are several instances of hilarious sexual euphemisms - "I may have to take you up on one of your dares and make you call me Papa," showcasing that the wit of classic comedy will always trump the crass and vulgar nature of today's farcical films.
Hackensacker was a particularly hilarious character, with several memorable and chortle-worthy traits, including his compulsive need to write down every single expensive in his little black book, even though he's notably one of the richest men in the world.
There were several elements of awkward humor that was far ahead of its time when "Captain McGlew" was introduced, allowing for a former husband and wife to watch each other try to get someone else, although, as movies such as this always end, there's a happy warm center. An enjoyable eighty-seven minutes.
His Girl Friday (1940)
Grant and Russell Shine
A splendid remake of the play, The Front Page, but significantly altered. It stars a snarky newspaper man in Walter Burns (played by Cary Grant), and the woman in question now being played by Rosalind Russell, as Hildy. Burns wants his old wife Hildy back, and will do anything to stop her new wedding from happening.
This is what sets off the rest of the movie. It paints Russell's character Hildy as strong and self-serving, something not normally seen in that era of movies. She does however have the typical "moment of breakdown" however it lasts briefly and its at the end of the movie. She has undeniable chemistry with Grant's character, and it shows in any scene they have together. Especially with the director apparently promoting ad-libbing, them being able to play off of each other for their snappy, back-and-forth deliveries gives some of the best comedy in the movie.
The film itself bends gender stereotypes, even though Hildy pushes Grant's jackass of a character (but somehow charming) away the entire movie, but Burns still pulls her back in at the end. After all, all the girls want to end up with the bad boys. The movie starts Hildy's perceived need to settle down, but the hustle and bustle of the old journalistic lifestyle keeps calling her back, and Burns' undeniable charm, plus a shared experience always creates some sort of spark, for instance, being arrested together.
Meanwhile, her future husband Baldwin is painted as a dolt caught in another man's old desires, and is constantly being harassed in some form or another, being arrested twice. It's supposed to be funny, but it actually comes off more tragic because all this guy wanted was to get married to Hildy. A funny, snappy movie, but muddled in a dystopian message.
The General (1926)
The First Popcorn Summer Movie
Buster Keaton is generally known for his comedy forays in the silent era, but this movie is a hybrid romance, comedy, and action movie. The plot is merely a vessel for the action and stunts, and for a movie that came out in 1926, I was impressed.
In what was apparently real stunts, I watched Keaton jump from trains and inflict pain on the North. It's an interesting commentary too, on films from the South. With the film being in black and white, Union soldiers symbolically come out looking as the villains with their navy blue uniforms appearing black. The opposite is true as well, as the South's gray uniforms look white on the film stock, giving them an aura of righteousness.
It was also an interesting theme that Keaton got all of his motivation from the girl that wanted him to enlist, and all his inspiration from his other love, The General. Both helped him mold himself into a soldier, and by the end it was all tied up with a nice bow. An enjoyable hour-and-a-half
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Too Long, Muddled in Controversial Themes
First of all, I guess this film makes me proud to be a Northerner. It makes sense that D.W. Griffith was born and raised in Kentucky, as his Confederate values surely ring true in this movie.
Putting the film in its context I guess makes more sense, the film did come out in 1915 - a time when even women couldn't vote. I just couldn't get over the film justifying the formation of the KKK based on the perceived lack of power of one Southern family. But I digress.
The film was interesting enough at least in its techniques, it's the only silent film I've seen that actually gives close-ups of faces and I could actually easily follow the plot of the story. However, the plot did meander, and with a run-time of three hours, I found myself struggling to pay attention.
Overall, an okay film but not one I will watch again.
Scarface (1932)
Tony Montana has nothing on Antonio Camonte
Perhaps even better than the seminal 1983 remake, this tale shines with the maniacal acting of Paul Moni as Camonte. The dialog is typical gangster fare (Myah! You coppers are never gonna get me, ya see?) But the characters in this film are what shine.
As Camonte gets deeper and deeper in the life of organized crime, his family starts to crack and everything all around him falls apart - a side effect of his boisterous, brash, and over-the-top brutal lifestyle. There is also some splendid camera work in the film, including the death scenes where Camonte shoots up half of the city. In those shots in particular, it shows how he has become somewhat of a "harbringer of death" as everywhere he goes dark shadows and death surrounds him - especially when a victim falls in the street under Undertakers Crossing, forming a cross in the shadows on the ground where he fell.
The comedic elements in the film feel odd and out of place. While Camonte is being shot at, Several stray bullets come close to hitting his secretary, the de facto comedic relief in this film, but it doesn't work. What does work however is the splendid push of Moni always trying to get what he can't have, and never gives up, that's his undoing. A great film.
-Smola