Sunday, January 20, 2008

Screen Genius


Have you ever watched a movie the first time and thought "what the fuck is going on?" And by the time you reach the end, you're hooked... so hooked that you watch again and again.

Pulp Fiction jumps into my head... but the only reason you might have felt that way is because it started in the middle.

This week, I took in "The Wrong Man" (released as "Lucky Number Slevin" in the US and elsewhere).

It's brilliant. Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman, Josh Hartnett, Lucy Liu and Bruce Willis make Jason Smilovic's stunning script lift off the screen. But it's Paul McGuigan's direction that smacks you between the eyes. It's fast, beautifully conceived and amazingly executed. (Sorry, I ran out of really cool superlatives.)

Watch the sets. Wow. The editing. Wow. The cinematography. Wow.

I'm not going to spoil it for you. All I'll say is that it's a gang war and Hartnett's character is caught in the middle... the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.. and that's somewhere someone with ataraxia doesn't want to be.

And after you've watched it, watch it again.

5 comments:

Tootsie Farklepants said...

You had me at Josh Hartnett.

1blueshi1 said...

I saw a little of it the other AM while getting ready for work--the DH was watching it. A friend of mine at work told me that I would like it back when it was in theatres but I think, nah, too much violence. However, if you like this movie, Chester, you might like Inside Man with Denzel Washington and Clive Owens. that is probably my fave adult movie of the past 2-3 years. let me know if you have seen and liked it!

Anonymous said...

Mr Brown & I enjoyed that one - the Usual Suspects is another along the same sort of lines.

e said...

Well, on that recommendation, will have to put it on my Netflix list!

Matsby said...

I'd never even heard of it. But if Morgan Freeman is in it, it must be ok.

Thanks for the recomend.