I love this movie

>>84916662
>>84916701
>>84916863
I was going to write that this is the most adventurous film made in Hollywood since Heaven's Gate, but what is that compared to calling it Mann's best movie? It's both a culmination and expansion of hundreds of ideas Mann has toyed with since Thief. But there's something new here: this is a movie about collectives, not individuals, and the most beautiful thing about this movie is watching these characters learn to respect, trust and love each other. They shift from professionals to family members. And through this, in this world dominated by banks and money which no longer even exist within a tangible form, we see how truly valuable interpersonal human connection really is. From Los Angeles, to Hong Kong, to Jakarta we are surrounded by landscapes of buildings, human figures almost imperceptible in their wrath. So moments that give us dialogue like, "I've never seen her happier," or "Don't be mad at your brother," become all the more vital and poignant.

It's interesting, in the last four films we see Mann's form evolve, but the ideas haven't changed since Thief. Here, that formal evolution is the most toned down it's ever been, (though the movie's cutting style seems heavily influenced by Tony Scott), and IMO this is really the first time we've seen a real development of those ideas. A profoundly 21st century film, where everything which was once material is now data, and transferable throughout countries all over the world. The world is no longer circular, it is now a grid. Governments are completely useless, everything is private equity. In a way, almost a prequel to New Rose Hotel! "Government, corporation, potato, po-tat-o"

Anonymous 2017-07-13 06:49:53 Post No.84916983
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Anonymous 2017-07-13 06:49:53 Post No.84916983 [Report]

>>84916938
Hemsworth is almost like a Greek god (no thor reference intended), but he is capable of folly....his early narcissism, his realizations that he's made a mistake. Yet, he's the closest we've come to a Murnau figure since Murnau himself, moreso that Ford even! At last, a George O' Brien for the sound era! He performs with his entire body; its one of my favorite performances ever. Very few films, even Murnau's does the human body feel more present. Same with death, it comes as a shock that the human body suddenly ceases to function (Viola Davis's death) and can lie on the ground, incapable of movement in this world of numbers and buildings. The internet, once profound in its connectivity for humans is now shifting from connectivity to commerce. It connects payrolls.

All who has seen this is certainly aware of the tonal shift in the last third of the picture...note how the purpose of the lighting changes from denoting place to denoting mood. Hemsworth and Tang Wei become a couple in revolt, using everything physical to fight this sphere where immaterial transaction is God. Magazines become armor, screwdrivers become knives. It's as logical as logic can get, same with the "intuitive decisions," made, like Hemsworth and Wei falling in love. It's purely a decision of zero or one. So why is this last third so emotionally involving rather than being purely conceptual? I couldn't tell you, but it probably doesn't matter. What matters is the way Hemsworth stares at Tang Wei in Jakarta, and the later shot of Wei doing the same to Hemsworth, and we experience the care one person has for another.

Anonymous 2017-07-13 06:50:12 Post No.84916988
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Anonymous 2017-07-13 06:50:12 Post No.84916988 [Report]

>>84916938
I follow Neil on Letterbox. I like his reviews.

Anonymous 2017-07-13 06:50:50 Post No.84917004
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Anonymous 2017-07-13 06:50:50 Post No.84917004 [Report]

>>84916863
You utter fucking tasteless little twat.

Anonymous 2017-07-13 06:50:56 Post No.84917008
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Anonymous 2017-07-13 06:50:56 Post No.84917008 [Report]

>>84916983
The movie's final shootout is far more than stylistic exercise, as some have said, like Manhola Dargis (god bless her though). Some on letterboxd have even said that the movement of people with torches is like the traveling data we see early on in the film! With all due respect, that has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. This is a movie that begins in a microchip and ends with a knife-fight during a religious procession! What's being said, I don't know (Mann is probably far beyond this idea of concrete answers at this point anyways) but what is revolutionary is the tension of three worlds meeting. We have shifted from the digital to the physical, men are now meeting with guns and knives all intending to kill one another. But inexplicably we enter another planet, one based on pure faith....something beyond tangibles and intangibles exist? There are gods? "What am I going to do? Grieve? But he's not here anymore. Where's my money?" seems anachronistic in comparison. The shootout is the most terrifying sequence in Mann. It's the ultimate capitalist nightmare, we see people unrelated to the narrative die in the midst of the gunfire. In this equity world, people who do not care about money and have a higher conscience are expendable. But ultmately we are reminded of the physical, as the camera lingers on Yorick von Wangenheim's bleeding body.

The ending feels like the conclusion to an entire chapter of Mann's cinema! We see the origin of why so many Mann protagonists wear sunglasses...for anonymity. "We have no time for grieving, we have to survive," we hear earlier on. And with screens everywhere our two heroes still have to rely on money to survive. Maybe we can no longer fight capitalism...but we might be able to escape it. It's oddly the most optimistic ending of any Mann film. These two lovers in revolt are now stateless. All they have are each other.

I'm aware that Imgur.com will stop allowing adult images since 15th of May. I'm taking actions to backup as much data as possible. Read more on this topic here - https://archived.moe/talk/thread/1694/

I'm aware that Imgur.com will stop allowing adult images since 15th of May. I'm taking actions to backup as much data as possible.
Read more on this topic here - https://archived.moe/talk/thread/1694/