Runtime: 119 minutes
Directed by: Jonathan
Demme
Starring: A great cast who
delivered great performances, especially the lead characters
From: Orion
Of course this is a motion picture I've viewed a few times before in
my life, but the last time was more than a decade ago, and as it's
currently for free on Prime... I am glad I am finally able to discuss it
here.
By now everyone knows the story, the characters, the most infamous moments that are still well-known almost 30 years later (plus, while I never watched the Hannibal TV show I heard it was great and a well-deserved cult hit) so I don't need to dwell on the basic plot. I will note, however, that the main characters are all fascinating people. Clarice Starling is only a trainee at the FBI academy and she is chosen because of her gender, appearance and skills to interview a cannibalistic serial killer who happens to be a very intelligent and manipulative psychiatrist for the purpose of catching another serial killer... what a game of cat and mouse that is against someone who is utterly horrifying in a unique way.
Clarice struggles at first in dealing with the infamous Hannibal Lecter but eventually earns both his and the audience's respect... it is easy to root for her. Dr. Lecter, meanwhile, is a fascinating character in the rather limited time he's on screen, even as he's done horrible things before and does more horrible things in the movie. And Ted Levine is pretty terrifying in a different way as Buffalo Bill. I was glad when seeing this in 2019 that what Bill identifies as (honestly, novel writer Thomas Harris had to do this back in the late 80's for shock value) was not portrayed in a way which seems grossly insensitive and tasteless in these modern times where such things are more accepted. Of course, if you identify in the same way as Bill, I imagine you'll have a different perspective on the topic. There is an explanation for Bill's beliefs at least, and he is another cinematic killer who was inspired by the real life horrorshow that was Ed Gein.
This movie was masterfully done, from the performances to how everything was framed, from the Howard Shore score (the only music that anyone remembers from this is Goodbye Horses but the score was pretty good) and the cinematography from Tak Fujimoto... I am not surprised this cleaned up at the Academy Awards despite being a rather adult tale with some shocking moments. Thank heavens this wasn't so oppressively grim and miserable that it becomes suffocating and a punishing viewing experience. Whatever you want to classify this as (I know some have gotten into heated debates as to if this is “crime drama”, “psychological thriller”, “horror”, or something else) this is still great and its ability to be chilling and have scenes stick in your mind long afterwards... that has not diminished.
By now everyone knows the story, the characters, the most infamous moments that are still well-known almost 30 years later (plus, while I never watched the Hannibal TV show I heard it was great and a well-deserved cult hit) so I don't need to dwell on the basic plot. I will note, however, that the main characters are all fascinating people. Clarice Starling is only a trainee at the FBI academy and she is chosen because of her gender, appearance and skills to interview a cannibalistic serial killer who happens to be a very intelligent and manipulative psychiatrist for the purpose of catching another serial killer... what a game of cat and mouse that is against someone who is utterly horrifying in a unique way.
Clarice struggles at first in dealing with the infamous Hannibal Lecter but eventually earns both his and the audience's respect... it is easy to root for her. Dr. Lecter, meanwhile, is a fascinating character in the rather limited time he's on screen, even as he's done horrible things before and does more horrible things in the movie. And Ted Levine is pretty terrifying in a different way as Buffalo Bill. I was glad when seeing this in 2019 that what Bill identifies as (honestly, novel writer Thomas Harris had to do this back in the late 80's for shock value) was not portrayed in a way which seems grossly insensitive and tasteless in these modern times where such things are more accepted. Of course, if you identify in the same way as Bill, I imagine you'll have a different perspective on the topic. There is an explanation for Bill's beliefs at least, and he is another cinematic killer who was inspired by the real life horrorshow that was Ed Gein.
This movie was masterfully done, from the performances to how everything was framed, from the Howard Shore score (the only music that anyone remembers from this is Goodbye Horses but the score was pretty good) and the cinematography from Tak Fujimoto... I am not surprised this cleaned up at the Academy Awards despite being a rather adult tale with some shocking moments. Thank heavens this wasn't so oppressively grim and miserable that it becomes suffocating and a punishing viewing experience. Whatever you want to classify this as (I know some have gotten into heated debates as to if this is “crime drama”, “psychological thriller”, “horror”, or something else) this is still great and its ability to be chilling and have scenes stick in your mind long afterwards... that has not diminished.
No comments:
Post a Comment