The acting was brilliant and the writing was so perfect, but the cinematography and directing almost put me off. Does the movie really need a "Fantasia" scene with pigeons flying over L.A. I get the significance from the earlier "pigeon applause" comment, but it made things far too sentimental for the tone of the movie and the writing.
shareI actually thought that the cinematography was very gutsy and beautiful. For an American film of this budget to really take a chance at being quite abstract in a sense is nice to see. Lopez is the protagonist of the film, but really the tone of the film is set by the abstract beauty of the editing and cinematography, which reflects the mind of Nathanial for the audience to see visually. Joe Wright has made some bold choices as a director and I applaud him because he has succeeded in making something less formulaic. This is a story that in a sense, has been told a million times, but it needed a fresh and exciting approach, and I think he captured the feeling evoked by the music that Nathanial plays in the film.
Scout
Loved the cinematography in this film. I especially enjoyed the verite-style scenes in and around the LAMP project.
'What does it matter what you say about people?'
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958).
OP I completely agree. The acting was great but the film overall was lacking. I think it had a lot of pacing issues as well.
I really wanted to like this movie but in the end I could not.
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That pigeon scene reminded me of the feather from Forrest Gump...
I thought it was a decent movie over all though. My one complaint was that while the music came through brilliantly, the audio of the dialogue seemed really washed out by background noise. Not sure if this was done for effect or not.
I like that imagery, but you couldn't really tell sometimes whether the photography was to show Mr. Ayer's disturbed mind or to enhance the beauty of the picture. For example, the light show in the philharmonic orchestra's performance just got me confused. Was it art or was it insanity?
Great picture, though and one that taught me a lot about the schizophrenic. Seems there's a gene for that, as I've some friends who have a brilliant son who developed the illness in late puberty.
Sometimes he's quite normal, and then out of nowhere, the "I've invented a battery that works on no energy" type of talk comes out.
"He who swaps his liberty for the promise of 'security' deserves neither." Ben Franklin
"For example, the light show in the philharmonic orchestra's performance just got me confused. Was it art or was it insanity? "
I went to this movie to escape after taking a long test and felt like I was sitting in on a lecture for schizophrenia. No, the light show was not insanity but I remember looking around the theatre wondering if people understood the significance. Schizophrenics are known to "see" sounds and "hear" colors...etc. So when listening to the music he actually does more than hear it, he sees it.