No need to shovel more dirt onto American Beauty, but I think by now many will agree that Sam Mendes followed-up his Oscar winning debut with a better film. With a little more creative trust, Mendes led a team of creative giants on both sides of the camera to tell an epic period gangster film – that runs under 2 hours – that in its heart is a family drama about fathers and sons. It may actually be too perfectly precise in all its details. Every angle, every prop and sound is full of emotional baggage and symbolism. This is highbrow Sin City.
I cherish the way emotional moments are conveyed. The way a pair of legs stand above a boy who is watching something he isn’t meant to see. The reveal of the big city reflected in the car windows. The scene between Tom Hanks and Paul Newman towards the end, when each asks the other to make a decision that will decide the fate of their sons. The way Jude Law owns every moment he’s on screen, hunched over in the booth of a diner, ruthless during the hotel shootout. There’s a bullet that hits a glass lamp, which explodes with a startling sound. We wait a long time before the damage is revealed, and it does not disappoint. Perfectly planned, perfectly executed.
Leave A Comment