Dead Man (1995)
Normally, I don't care much for black & white films, but it took over an hour for me to notice this film was black & white.
As the movie started, I thought I was in for another dazed performance by Johnny Depp. I was so right!
From the beginning of the movie, he was dazed & confused. (I was just starting Hazed & Infused.)
All the images were there at the beginning to signal an underground journey: the long train ride, the murder, the Blackfoot chanting & burning herbs. Neil Young composing & performing just put icing on the cake.
But there was no return from the spirit world, only a deeper & deeper descent thereto.
In the end, it's kind of a funny statement that Nobody sends William Blake back to the spirit world. My buddy Ian loved & quoted Blake. Some of the quotes Nobody made of Blake made me think of all the poetry that was just out of my reach because I just can't read quite slow enough. I'll have to go read a little Blake I guess & surprise Ian.
The contrast between the near comedic & the grotesque made me think about Blood Meridian by Cormack McCarthy. It made me wonder if Ridley Scott, whom I have been told is shooting it, will film it in black & white. Although Blood Meridianhas damn little discernible comedy.
While I'm rambling about movies, I should also mention Seven Beauties. While it starts off drenched in stereotypes, it takes off in long vignettes, through an incredible everyman story to an ending only an agnostic anarchist, like unto myself, could love. While the whole movie was shot well, the scene near the end where he looks in a mirror, but we only see his fiance & mother in the reflection is paramount, highlighting the dichotomy between past & future, while his mother tells him to forget his past & the viewer has the vivid scenes of him executing one his fellow concentration camp prisoners to stay alive & keep as many of the others alive as possible still fresh in mind.
An engaging, dynamic, ingratiating film that blossoms into a surprising, happy message of carpe diem.
