After all this gushing praise I am very excited about tomorrow's showing on TCM. I won't be able to watch it live but will tape it and watch completely undisturbed Tuesday night.
You are in for a treat aciolino and I look forward to hearing a good report from you. Enjoy!
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Well. Here goes.
Acting, cast, photography, directorial choices: excellent.
Plot: problems:
The use of Liszt's "Les Preludes" in the opening is just a bit over the top for the genre of story. Also, too much, like we're being told just how profound this story will be! by the music. Nope.
When we first see The Man he is already in a corrupted state. A dissapointment. It would have been more meaningful to observe his fall, then rise. It would not have taken much.
At one suggestion of the Woman from the City, he is ready to murder his wife? What? No. I don't buy it. Not enough had been established to make me believe this. Sorry.
Then, a revelation followed by a day of revelling. Huh? Too much, too soon.
Fade out: priceless.
That's the reaction to my initial viewing. I will see it again after a few weeks time.
Any thoughts?
The book that this movie was based on had no detailed "fall" on the part of the man. He was already corrupted. Sure, it gave some background on how things used to be (minimal), but so did the movie. In the book, it took one suggestion from the mistress for him to agree to murder. In the book, he thought nothing of murdering his wife who was the mother of his three children. According to the original story, the wife knew he was going to kill her and she went right along with it. More unbelievable than the forgiveness and reconciliation played out in the movie.
Sunrise really is a masterpiece of a movie. It moves you, if you can be moved. But hey, if you didn't feel it, then you just didn't feel it. Maybe you'll feel different about it in a few weeks.
Yeah, I know from past experience that it sometimes takes several viewings to really "get" a film, or a piece of music, or just about anything.
The details from the book really mean nothing in terms of my appreciation of the film, they only explain, perhaps (?) the screenwriters base. Without a "fall" and without seeing the process leading to the decision to murder his wife, the character of the man (not to mention the story) is essentially flat and we have no sympathy for him, I suffer none of his pain, his confusion, his ambivalence...if indeed he has any.
The forgiveness and reconciliation would have proved more meaningful had we seen the couple in their salad days.
Otherwise, the way it stands, it's just posturing.
My friend, we see something even better--we see the couple renew vows and fall in love again -- really in love. Think of it as a parable about the power of forgiveness and repentence. As the sub-title says: "A Song of Two Humans".
shareYou are correct- that is the gist of the powerful, well-acted and directed story.
But even more important that the great parable is incredible filmmaking that took place here. The forced perspective, the unique camera techniques, the imagery, the in-camera editing. Saw it last night again on TNT and it blew me away.
See Roger Ebert's excellent essay on this film (see the Wikopedia listing for the link).
Thanks for the heads up on Eberts essay. Great read, really insightful!
"Hey, Buster hit her. I just gave her the roofie."
At one suggestion of the Woman from the City, he is ready to murder his wife? What? No. I don't buy it. Not enough had been established to make me believe this. Sorry.I've seen other similar comments. It's as if people believe the Man and the Woman from the City just met. The Woman from the City (thanks to one of the few intertitles) is revealed to be lingering after being there for weeks. I know it's still far-fetched, but not as crazy as some make it seem. share
<< Then, a revelation followed by a day of revelling. Huh? Too much, too soon. >>
This threw me off for the middle of the film. Going from a tense drama to a slapstick comedy....?????? I admired the film all the way through, but that transition in style is really jarring.
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"slapstick comedy"
You and I must have watched two different movies because in Sunrise there is nothing resembling "slapstick".
Well, I suppose you could count the Man chasing after the pig as "slapstick" but I wouldn't even go that far. There was nothing funny about it. It was not tense or dark drama, but it wasn't exactly comedic either.
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I think the movie is fantastic, one of my favorites of all time, I haven't seen it in awhile, I need to see it again.
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