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alexfhansen
Reviews
The Blackout (1997)
Viewed and reviewed in 2024
I heard this film was an underrated classic and worth a viewing.
There are many films that break the norm, that create or show something that hasn't been done before, then future films mimic and ameliorate those concepts, and the original gets forgotten.
I feel like "the blackout" has been deemed one of these inspirational films, but i don't know where that happened.
"The blackout" took the Mocumentary and placed it in Hollywood. The story revolves around a Hollywood acotr and his escapades to Miami in 3 different timelines.
The plot had good progressions of the stars live and his different focal points while being in Miami.
The film was a good snippet of life of the main character, but i felm it missed the mark on expressing an interesting story or arc.
The film had some scenes that most definitely pushed some boundaries for the time, but they didn't push the plot forwards.
Maybe had some sharpness in 1997, but lost its edge in 2024.
Carnage (2011)
A bottle movie that took some risks, but didn't quite hit the mark
It's rare and ambitious to have a star studded cast venture in to the "art house" take of making a Bottle Movie.
Without reading the premise of the movie beforehand, i was unaware unile partway through the film that this was a Bottle Movie.
During the earlier scenes, i wasn't primarily hooked on the film. It starred four parents discussing an altercation that hat happened between their elemantary aged sons, and how they should all find a common resolution.
Maybe I am just too poor to relate to these four parental figures that send their children to private schools in new york city.
But dispite the outstanding acting performances of the main cast. I often felt cast out of the actions on screne and my perceptions of how it would pan out in live.
The film started with a dialog between the couples that was calm and composed, yet filled with deeper slices to the other.
As the film progressed, alliances would change, hurtful statements would be said more literal than subtle.
I felt this all made for a great movie.
My one gripe was i felt there were many times where the dialog and camera changes didn't flow together.
There were several times a character would say something. The camera would switch to the other character, then they would pause, react, then respond to the comment.
My "getting" of this movie, was that all four parents had their beliefs and understandings on how to raise their children, yet felt compelled to mold and act in ways that they thought their community wanted.
As the night progress, the deterioration of the characters façades escalated to crumble.
From their original viewpoints, of one family playing the perpetrator, the other playing the victim. One family to be perceived as more financially and romantically stable.
By the conclusion of the film, we realize that these families have more in common than they let on. That the family "idolized" as being more idealistic, might have more issues than you'd like to contend with.
I guess i felt like, if these characters were in the "real world", they would either be more extreme or more contained.
This idea of lashing out, then waiting for the others reaction, feels unnatural for me.
Maybe Roman Polanski lives in a world where this is his reality, but its unreal to me.