We saw 12 Years a Slave last night. Great movie. My son is involved in Cinema at college. He enjoys doing Movie Reviews. Here is his review....(I think he did a pretty good job...I couldnt sum up a 2.5 hour movie like this!!) 12 Years a Slave is a triumph of cinema, and arguably McQueen’s most thought-provoking and raw work to date, even surpassing his brutal and detached depiction of the no wash and hunger strikes of the Irish Republican Army in his film Hunger. Every frame of this film is essential, and feels perfectly in place. The movie is not meant to entertain, or to titillate. It is a tragic and passionate portrayal of suffering, and the transformations people must go through in order to keep their sanity, as well as their lives. The score is mutually uplifting and haunting, with my mind particularly drifting to a piece of the score penned by Colin Stetson that played in one of the most gut-wrenching and horrifying moments of the entire film, which I will not discuss here. It is a repetitive, dissonant dirge, one of pure evil and malice. The cinematography in this film is without a doubt some of the most ambitious camera work I’ve seen not just this year, but this decade. Powerful, agonizing long shots are frequent throughout the film, both static and dynamic, with particular mention going to the quiet, anxious scenes of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s face, as we simply observe the emotions he’s both suppressing and challenging. It’s these small moments that really help not only his performance truly shine through, but also give the movie its scathing core. The acting, as one would expect, is fantastic. Nearly every A-list actor is used effectively and offers their best for this film, with the only exception being Paul Giamatti, who disappears as quickly as he arrives. Chiwetel Ejiofor’s performance is the stuff of dreams, and I will personally riot in the streets if he is not at least offered a nomination for the best leading role of this year. Michael Fassbender, Paul Dano, Lupita Nyong’o, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, and Sarah Paulson also deliver flawless performances as well, offering us multiple perspectives of this dark period of American history, instead of solely focusing on the torment of Solomon Northup, although his agony is the center piece of this work. Overall, this is easily the greatest film of 2013 for me thus far, and I imagine it will be quite hard to top it. This is the next great film. This is one for the history books. This is true art. 9.5/10
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 17:28:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015