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Post by PromNightCarrie on Feb 11, 2018 23:30:49 GMT
Cassavetes' Opening Night kind of replaced it as my favorite film, but it's still up there. This is how to make a crime thriller that's involving and smart without lacking heart. The performances are all flawless and just lift the quality higher. I love Demme's choice to use so many close-ups, although it certainly helped that Foster is so great at carrying them off and she's the lead. One of those times where everything just worked (well, with the exception of that shot of Kasi Lemmons running).I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST ME. NO. That's the onlyyy thing that always bothered me about a film that I absolutely adore.  Edit: Oh, and I like the hairstyle and suits because it's so Clarice. I see that and I see the character in a nutshell. She looks like a working woman in the 90s with cheap shoes trying to look professional. |
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Post by pendragon on Feb 11, 2018 23:57:13 GMT
To be honest, I've never been too impressed with it, for a few reasons. One, Hopkins' performance, while entertaining, seems very out of place in an otherwise down to earth movie. He always reminds me of a Bond villain, and one of the campier Bond villains from the Connery or Moore era. Second, Jonathan Demme's direction seemed a bit sloppy to me - like how he does a hard zoom in on anything important or in general just moving the camera in obvious and distracting ways. Related to that is the tone problem. The score suggests a Gothic atmosphere, but the film is too well lit for that and as a result, the whole thing just comes off looking awkward.
I do think Foster is great, though and Ted Lavine deserves more credit than he's gotten, but I don't value the film much as a whole.
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no
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Post by no on Feb 12, 2018 15:01:04 GMT
Uhh so a movie in the 90s set in the 90s featuring a 90s haircut is dated? It's just the fashion of the time always sticks out to me. It's not the film's fault, but Jesus Christ, it painfully dates itself just because of that, and it doesn't help that you have other Hopkins-led films in the franchise that don't. Again, not Demme's fault that those films came later, but it still makes me cringe that people ever thought those suits and hairstyles would endure. Yeah man, how dare a film reflect its time. For me it is tech that bothers me. Man, I saw Do the Right Thing because I heard it was relevant to America today but I cringed sooooo hard because someone in the film was using a boom box 😂 like I know it isn't Spike Lee's fault but it always bothers me when people in movies use technology of the era. Also another example is The Departed... like nice try being a cool cop movie when everyone uses flip phones. |
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Post by stephen on Feb 12, 2018 15:05:36 GMT
It's just the fashion of the time always sticks out to me. It's not the film's fault, but Jesus Christ, it painfully dates itself just because of that, and it doesn't help that you have other Hopkins-led films in the franchise that don't. Again, not Demme's fault that those films came later, but it still makes me cringe that people ever thought those suits and hairstyles would endure. Yeah man, how dare a film reflect its time. For me it is tech that bothers me. Man, I saw Do the Right Thing because I heard it was relevant to America today but I cringed sooooo hard because someone in the film was using a boom box 😂 like I know it isn't Spike Lee's fault but it always bothers me when people in movies use technology of the era. Also another example is The Departed... like nice try being a cool cop movie when everyone uses flip phones. Let it go, man. |
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Post by RiverleavesElmius on Feb 12, 2018 22:47:19 GMT
Cassavetes' Opening Night kind of replaced it as my favorite film, but it's still up there. This is how to make a crime thriller that's involving and smart without lacking heart. The performances are all flawless and just lift the quality higher. I love Demme's choice to use so many close-ups, although it certainly helped that Foster is so great at carrying them off and she's the lead. One of those times where everything just worked (well, with the exception of that shot of Kasi Lemmons running). OMG! Obviously I agree with you & most here about SOTL being a virtually flawless masterpiece & one of the very best horror thrillers in film history (Top 3 for me), but more importantly: Someone else who shares my love for Cassavetes' OPENING NIGHT!! I remember 15 years ago (my freshman year of college), I'd been blown away by the ode to great American filmmaking in the 70's documentary "A Decade Under the Influence", and was left fascinated by Cassavetes & embarrassed I'd never seen any of his films. His stuff was criminally hard to find, but after searching hard for indy video stores in PR, I eventually found a great place owned by 2 genuine cinemaphiles and I rented 4 of his works ("Faces", "A Woman Under the Influence", "Husbands" & "Opening Night"). Loved "WUTI" & "Husbands", "Faces" left me cold, but "Opening Night" was something truly special that shined above all the others for me. It works in soooo many levels. It takes the best elements of his genius "improv" style & overlapping dialogue & uses it at the service of a marvelous "life in the theater" story that works as satire yet still has a lot of heart. I've always felt the only thing that kept it from my all-time Top 20 was I never revisited it after that. If its "behind the curtains" insights of life in the theater felt so raw & authentic to me back when I was just a freshman, I think I'd have a whole new appreciation and/or understanding of it now after the theater & improv experiences I've had since (both in college & on the professional level). Do you know if it's on Amazon? Cassavetes' stuff is unfortunately damn near IMPOSSIBLE to find in video stores! |
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Post by PromNightCarrie on Feb 13, 2018 0:13:06 GMT
Cassavetes' Opening Night kind of replaced it as my favorite film, but it's still up there. This is how to make a crime thriller that's involving and smart without lacking heart. The performances are all flawless and just lift the quality higher. I love Demme's choice to use so many close-ups, although it certainly helped that Foster is so great at carrying them off and she's the lead. One of those times where everything just worked (well, with the exception of that shot of Kasi Lemmons running). OMG! Obviously I agree with you & most here about SOTL being a virtually flawless masterpiece & one of the very best horror thrillers in film history (Top 3 for me), but more importantly: Someone else who shares my love for Cassavetes' OPENING NIGHT!! I remember 15 years ago (my freshman year of college), I'd been blown away by the ode to great American filmmaking in the 70's documentary "A Decade Under the Influence", and was left fascinated by Cassavetes & embarrassed I'd never seen any of his films. His stuff was criminally hard to find, but after searching hard for indy video stores in PR, I eventually found a great place owned by 2 genuine cinemaphiles and I rented 4 of his works ("Faces", "A Woman Under the Influence", "Husbands" & "Opening Night"). Loved "WUTI" & "Husbands", "Faces" left me cold, but "Opening Night" was something truly special that shined above all the others for me. It works in soooo many levels. It takes the best elements of his genius "improv" style & overlapping dialogue & uses it at the service of a marvelous "life in the theater" story that works as satire yet still has a lot of heart. I've always felt the only thing that kept it from my all-time Top 20 was I never revisited it after that. If its "behind the curtains" insights of life in the theater felt so raw & authentic to me back when I was just a freshman, I think I'd have a whole new appreciation and/or understanding of it now after the theater & improv experiences I've had since (both in college & on the professional level). Do you know if it's on Amazon? Cassavetes' stuff is unfortunately damn near IMPOSSIBLE to find in video stores!  Opening Night was soooo ahead of its time. When it first came out, it didn't get much love. Critics didn't understand it. It didn't draw the same audience that A Woman Under the Influence surprisingly did a few years prior. It's a damn shame Cassavetes didn't live to see that it did end up being seen by cinephiles later as it had completely disappeared when he was alive. I hope Gena Rowlands knows just how brilliant she is in it (and like I've said before, best drunk acting ever). I treated myself to the Cassavetes box set a couple of years ago and Opening Night is included in that box set! You can get it on Amazon. I definitely recommend it if you're into Cassavetes films because it also has A Woman Under the Influence, Shadows, Faces, and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (another underrated Cassavetes gem, IMO), and it has interviews and all sorts of stuff included. That Decade Under the Influence documentary you mention is one of my favorite film documentaries. I remember Julie Christie giving major props to John Cassavetes in it. |
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Opening Night was soooo ahead of its time. When it first came out, it didn't get much love. Critics didn't understand it. It didn't draw the same audience that A Woman Under the Influence surprisingly did a few years prior. It's a damn shame Cassavetes didn't live to see that it did end up being seen by cinephiles later as it had completely disappeared when he was alive. I hope Gena Rowlands knows just how brilliant she is in it (and like I've said before, best drunk acting ever).