Comments for Nick Lacey on films

Comment on Gomorrah (Gomarra, Italy, 2008) by Max gradel

Max gradel — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:10:57 +0000

Yes, I agree with you there Jimmy. There is the crane shot which is styalised and there is also the shots in the tanning slaon where a blue filter is used and there is also the shot of the apartment whcih looks as though it could be a helicopter shot.

Comment on Red Riding Trilogy (UK, 2009) by nicklacey

nicklacey — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:01:23 +0000

It’s certainly difficult to watch something when you have personal knowledge of the events when dramatic liberties are taken in the narrative. To what degree to audiences take the Red Riding Trilogy to be a realist representation of the time? Difficult to be definitive, however the Expressionist mise en scene does suggest subjectivity and, as I noted in the original post, the reality of the situation was unlikely to have been as bad the films present. It could be argued that fact and fiction can be interchangeable as people’s perspectives on controversial events are often at odds.

Comment on Red Riding Trilogy (UK, 2009) by Richard Donkin

Richard Donkin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:25:43 +0000

I didn’t see the whole series but I was put off by the first one as I was a Yorkshire-based newspaper reporter at that time and knew the Ripper case well. It wasn’t corruption so much as incompetence that marred that investigation. I’m not a big fan of mixing fact and fiction in this way as it distorts real events for those watching who cannot sift the reality from the fiction.

Comment on Gomorrah (Gomarra, Italy, 2008) by Jimmy Johnson

Jimmy Johnson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:41:20 +0000

i may be mistaken, but there is more than one stylised shot!

Comment on Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di bicyclette, Italy, 1948) by nicklacey

nicklacey — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:41:20 +0000

And can you tell me if it’s significant that the priests are German? I can’t work it out and my students want to know (Gobadhi’s film is excellent).

Comment on Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di bicyclette, Italy, 1948) by OMAR AHMED

OMAR AHMED — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:10:33 +0000

Director Sergio Leone makes a brief appearance as one of the priests who takes cover from the rain. Leftist political cinema of this nature that was part of a Marxist impulse is what makes Bicycle Thieves such a powerful historical document. It continues to influence even today – a worthy contemporary companion piece would easily be Bahman Gobadhi’s Kurdish film, ‘A Time For Drunken Horses’.

Comment on Red Riding Trilogy (UK, 2009) by willchadwick

willchadwick — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:18:20 +0000

It is the most exciting and most inventive television I have seen in quite some time. Yes even the Wire, for which it has the same amount of complex characters and storyline, this can easily match . The uncomprimising bleak view is brilliantly portrayed in both the rounded characters of Grisoni’s script and the three director’s separate visions, and it is a credit to them all that they have managed to condense these three novels into workable and popular TV shows. My favourite part is definitely 1980, partially due to the interest in the subject matter, the fantastic performance by Paddy Considine and the very ambitious and effective opening sequence. But overall I found it well written, effectively directed and brilliantly acted, a complete triumph and almost perfect.

Comment on Watchmen (US, 2009) by willchadwick

willchadwick — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:45:04 +0000

I think it is very average and for an extraordinary novel being turned into an average film isn’t really good enough. I think in parts it is well cast Rorschach, Nite Owl, The Comedian and Dr Manhattan are all very good in their separate roles particularly Jackie Earle Haley. I also like how they changed the threat from the giant squid to Dr Manhattan and that was kind of interesting and occasionally the visuals are absolutely stunning and the first 12 minutes are just brilliant. However the rest of the cast are rubbish, flat and wooden, particularly Matthew Goode who is not good enough for Ozymandias, I don’t believe that person is the most intelligent man in the world. I think the 80s setting leaves much of the films political leanings completely useless as they are talking about Vietnam, Nixon and threat of Nuclear War, which while contemporary for the novel strangely dates the film, and the scenes with Nixon in the Dr Strangelove war room with that awful stick-on-comedy-nose. There are also some terribly misjudged moments in both violence and musical choices (Sound of Silence over a funeral sequence?). Snyder is all about style over content, the slow-mo is rather irritating and the latex costumes are a bit naff. The big kicker for me is despite the inspired ending change, the writers stick too much close to the source material in their clear unrelenting love of it and most the novels’ dialogue falls flat on screen. It is a difficult novel to adapt but when directors like Terry Gilliam, Darren Aronofsky and Paul Greengrass have been beaten by the project, and ‘visionary’ director Zack Snyder has come in it really is time to throw in the towel.

Comment on Revolutionary Road (US-UK, 2008) by willchadwick

willchadwick — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:59:43 +0000

I recently saw this and I have to say I quite agree with you. There are terrific performances and intelligent direction, it is beautifully photographed by Roger Deakins who I think clearly evokes the period brilliantly. I think it also manages to get over the message of the book that surrounding yourself in luxuries, beautiful houses, perfectly mowed lawns and good cars does not hide your inner demons and how escaping to another country will not necessarily leave your demons behind and the film for the first half does this very well and really quite interestingly. It is therefore the fault of the film that Michael Shannon turns up halfway through to explain that to us, apparently Sam Mendes cut 18 scenes until he got it right and you wish he cut two more, Shannon is terrific but actually unneeded in making the film work. Also although your not a big fan, Mendes has done this before in American Beauty which I really like and I thought it was much more acerbic and dark and a more edgy portrait of American suburbia and did it with a sense of humour, which Revolutionary Road is clearly lacking in. I do like it, but if I want dark suburbia and how under this surface of beauty there is darkness I’ll settle for Blue Velvet any day of the week.

Comment on Tropic Thunder (US-Germany, 2008) by nicklacey

nicklacey — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:37:55 +0000

Point one is self-evidently stupid and what follows doesn’t get any better.