I felt the somewhat uneven visual style (poetry and verite, but only when the characters aren't having a big monologue or dialogue) was also contending against some pacing problems and a formulaic script. Sometimes these issues hindered the style and sometimes they were transcended by it. Ironically, it wasn't the story of the theater company that moved me so much as the seemingly generic but very powerful parts about the drama of the soul in prison: the circle in which…
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Song of the Sea 2014
The mythopoetic tone here is hobbled, in my opinion, on the one hand by some really opaque major plot points and on the other hand by some too on-the-nose emotional beats, particularly at the end. Still, it's heart-warming and enjoyable, with a stirring main musical motif and some breathtaking images, and it's "as Irish as the day is long," as my Irish-American grandmother would have said.
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Lawrence of Arabia 1962
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Seeing this in 70mm was incredible not only because it's obviously so visually stunning but because sitting through all four hours in a small movie theater seat clues you in on what a physical experience Lean intends: it's important to feel this film in your body, to get just an inkling of the trial of physical endurance the crossing of the Nefud will be for Lawrence and his men (it takes up nearly a quarter of the film's runtime) and…
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Gladiator II 2024
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
A mixed bag. Mescal's character arc -- and especially his relationship with his mother, which morphs dramatically over the course of just a handful of brief encounters -- is incoherent. Pascal is underused; the possibility of exploring the psyche of political resistance, or the tragedy of a public figure whose behind-the-scenes heroism will never be known, is passed over for a boilerplate tale of personal revenge. Some of the fights, and what vanishingly little romance exists here, border on the…
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