Cloverfield
Jan. 18th, 2008 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreWow.
Just back from seeing Cloverfield, and I for one was really impressed. This has the possibility to be the next Blair Witch Project. But first, an important disclaimer:
If you are subject to motion sickness, vertigo, or just hate movies shot with hand-held cameras, avoid Cloverfield like the plague.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kshandra had to leave near the end because the constantly yawing angles and jerky shots were making her physically ill.
The film follows a group of 20-somethings on what starts out as a going-away party for a friend, and ends up a night of horror as something attacks New York City.
Like the Blair Witch Project, we are told from the beginning that what we are seeing was found in a camera recovered from the rubble of what used to be Central Park. So the eventual fate of the characters is at least strongly hinted at, but is still heart-breaking. A clever trick was having older footage still on the tape, which is used to great advantage.
To say that 9/11 influenced this film is like saying water is a contributing factor in flash floods. The early scenes of the attack are eerily reminiscent of the footage from around the WTC with the blowing papers and dust. The running crowds in many scenes also bring CNN footage to mind, but it works because that is what happens when a city gets torn apart, and that's how people move in a panicked mob.
The director learned from the school of Less is More. The monster is only revealed in dribs and drabs - a shape in the dark and smoke, a flashing tail, a half seen leg, until we finally get a good view of the whole beast near the end. I've always maintained that it's what you can't see that's really scary, and this is very true here. The monster(s) are well done, and true to their Japanese forefathers.
All in all, a very minimalist move, very little character development, no real plot beyond "try to live through this" and since we know the fate of the camera, a feeling of fatalism. But it works. Well worth seeing.
4 penguins.
Just back from seeing Cloverfield, and I for one was really impressed. This has the possibility to be the next Blair Witch Project. But first, an important disclaimer:
If you are subject to motion sickness, vertigo, or just hate movies shot with hand-held cameras, avoid Cloverfield like the plague.
kshandra had to leave near the end because the constantly yawing angles and jerky shots were making her physically ill. The film follows a group of 20-somethings on what starts out as a going-away party for a friend, and ends up a night of horror as something attacks New York City.
Like the Blair Witch Project, we are told from the beginning that what we are seeing was found in a camera recovered from the rubble of what used to be Central Park. So the eventual fate of the characters is at least strongly hinted at, but is still heart-breaking. A clever trick was having older footage still on the tape, which is used to great advantage.
To say that 9/11 influenced this film is like saying water is a contributing factor in flash floods. The early scenes of the attack are eerily reminiscent of the footage from around the WTC with the blowing papers and dust. The running crowds in many scenes also bring CNN footage to mind, but it works because that is what happens when a city gets torn apart, and that's how people move in a panicked mob.
The director learned from the school of Less is More. The monster is only revealed in dribs and drabs - a shape in the dark and smoke, a flashing tail, a half seen leg, until we finally get a good view of the whole beast near the end. I've always maintained that it's what you can't see that's really scary, and this is very true here. The monster(s) are well done, and true to their Japanese forefathers.
All in all, a very minimalist move, very little character development, no real plot beyond "try to live through this" and since we know the fate of the camera, a feeling of fatalism. But it works. Well worth seeing.
4 penguins.
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no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2008 06:08 (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2008 12:21 (UTC)The not seeing the whole monster thing? I think that "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" did that as well, effectively. Good to see that methods like that are still being used.
no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2008 13:39 (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Jan 2008 14:41 (UTC)After I went to bed last night, I realized that the best analogy to the way they used the monster was a good striptease. A hint of this, a flash of that, until finally you see the whole deal. Which means I now want to make a video of this to The Stripper.
no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2008 00:21 (UTC)If you pay close attention to the Coney Island footage, something of interest occurs there.
no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2008 01:30 (UTC)