04-02-2019, 10:52 PM
It was movie night (at home) and it was between renting this and Green Book (because we had an iTunes credit and nothing else looked interesting). We watched the trailers for both and this seemed less heavy-handed, so we rented (actually buying was the only option).
Decent cast. Ok story. Not too heavy handed. But something about Jones' direction always bugs me. There's always a gratuitous scene or scenes that take you out of the story he's telling.
In the redux of Oldboy, the black bellhop poster coming to life. In this, it was the zoomed in reactions shots of the black audience during a lecture. He would composite three separate headshots (of very photogenic faces) with dramatic lighting at different zoom levels. Over and over. It just looked weird and out of place. He could have had actual reaction shots and it would have worked much better.
Also, the film ends with a tie to contemporary stories (Charlotte, NC). Hard to watch. The last bit is compelling, but tacked on and somewhat disconnected.
I'd recommend it...
--tg
Decent cast. Ok story. Not too heavy handed. But something about Jones' direction always bugs me. There's always a gratuitous scene or scenes that take you out of the story he's telling.
In the redux of Oldboy, the black bellhop poster coming to life. In this, it was the zoomed in reactions shots of the black audience during a lecture. He would composite three separate headshots (of very photogenic faces) with dramatic lighting at different zoom levels. Over and over. It just looked weird and out of place. He could have had actual reaction shots and it would have worked much better.
Also, the film ends with a tie to contemporary stories (Charlotte, NC). Hard to watch. The last bit is compelling, but tacked on and somewhat disconnected.
I'd recommend it...
--tg
