MovieChat Forums > Ekstase Discussion > Wow, talk about minimalist filmmaking

Wow, talk about minimalist filmmaking

posted 14 years ago by Reality-Bites
3 replies | jump to latest

This was the most minimalist film I've ever seen. Though it was a "talkie," it might as well have just been a silent movie, for there was scant dialogue throughout. It was all about images and expression, and body language. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it - au contraire, I got a kick out of it. I'm just sayin' it was a pretty 'stark' movie in many ways. And that ending montage of the workers doing all that manual labor - heck, i almost thought the camera was gonna' pan up to a sign overhead that said "Arbeit Macht Frei".

[–] ObstinateAnnette 13 years ago

I agree that the dialogue was scant, but I think the photography and story more than made up for it. I thought it was very original for the time it was made, especially the camera angles/tricks and symbolism.

Also, I found the final scene to be more "Workers of the World Unite!" than "Arbeit Macht Frei".

I need my 1987 DG20 Casio electric guitar set to mandolin, yeah...

[–] thecooljicster5 13 years ago

Well in '33 Sound was still really new (only six years old) not all countries had fully adopted it since it wasn't as popular. Heck even in the states Chaplin was still making silent films in the 1930s.

"Oh, Jeff, I don't want to die!"
"Neither do I, baby, but if I have to I'm gonna die last."

[–] 13 years ago

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