Ghost
12 Sep 2004, 10:02 PM
I was wondering if anyone had seen the newly released director's cut of this dystopian sci-fi movie, Lucas' first film. It's a film of unusual visual imagination (you'd expect such given that both Haskell Wexler and Caleb Deschanel are listed among the photographers). [weird riff]The reliance on the overwhelming white color scheme seems to be a play on the nature of purity. Here it seems to be disconnection from others in the idea of being pure without the element of goodness or innocence. Hence white is aform of disconenection and also emptiness.[/weird riff] The film has a very dry, bleak sense of humor, a little like A Clockwork Orange if that film had been shot by a real Englishman and not a fake one.
The prison sequence, with Robert Duvall's THX-1138 and Donald Pleasance's neurotic SEN in a completely whitewashed environment, starts as something out of the actor's studio.and ends with blips of color moving across a monochromatic background, reminiscent of Lawrence of Arabia. that's the best work in the film
One thing the film shows: Without Wallter Murch, George Lucas is nothing. This film seems like a trick of light, color but most of all sound. Murch is a terrific sound guy, listen to the rhythm of the death star attack in Star Wars and yiou'll see what I mean.Listen to the sound editing when the men emerge from the prison int his film and get the same sense.
And why Robert Duvall isn't mentioned among great actors more often than he is, I don't know. I'd pay to watch him pour ketchup. He has like three lines in the entire film and has you completely in his grasp.
IT does steal most of its ideas, but it has some interesting narrative plays on traditional film stories. It's a chilly film, very low-key,and it doesn't "heat up," there's always a distance there, but that's consistent with the Orwellian world that were wrapped in, and the film remains mostly interesting. It's kind of a good film with great elements.
The prison sequence, with Robert Duvall's THX-1138 and Donald Pleasance's neurotic SEN in a completely whitewashed environment, starts as something out of the actor's studio.and ends with blips of color moving across a monochromatic background, reminiscent of Lawrence of Arabia. that's the best work in the film
One thing the film shows: Without Wallter Murch, George Lucas is nothing. This film seems like a trick of light, color but most of all sound. Murch is a terrific sound guy, listen to the rhythm of the death star attack in Star Wars and yiou'll see what I mean.Listen to the sound editing when the men emerge from the prison int his film and get the same sense.
And why Robert Duvall isn't mentioned among great actors more often than he is, I don't know. I'd pay to watch him pour ketchup. He has like three lines in the entire film and has you completely in his grasp.
IT does steal most of its ideas, but it has some interesting narrative plays on traditional film stories. It's a chilly film, very low-key,and it doesn't "heat up," there's always a distance there, but that's consistent with the Orwellian world that were wrapped in, and the film remains mostly interesting. It's kind of a good film with great elements.