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Guilty as Sin
There's always a possibility for danger De Mornay's character is put into vulnerable situations. The camera moves eerie & ominously weaving in and out acting like another person or in some way as Don Jonhnson's character. The camera dollies this way and that way giving off a dangerous quality that stays with you into the next scene.
Don Johnson, The bad guy is played vigorously one of the best villains of all time. His dialogue is spoken very slowly,quietly and with an understanding look on his face he also brakes into unnerving lashouts of anger and jelous fits.
Rebecca De Mornay is one of the only actresses to reminds me of the old classic Hollywood actresses Grace Kelly,Ingrid Bergman,Tippi Hedren,Lauren Becall etc...
There's a blocking of characters in certain scenes that's felt through-out the movie and is apparent in the way it was shot many front to back shots are used were one character is facing the camera and the other has his or her's back to the camera also other types of blocking accrues in the tight close-ups of the two main characters that gives the feeling that something is missing or that there is more to the scene then is beinginng showen.
To me it builds up in levels of tension these levels may feel like they are going down but it's a manipulation to get you to feel that it's easing and nothing is wrong but with each new scene the tension rises to a new high. Another thing with the Cinematography is the length at which scenes start of at (far to close) this acts like an elastic band first becoming stretched and then slowly letting lose but the losing of the elastic acts like an undetermined potential for vulnerability or danger. infact the stretching part is the tension and the losing is the unknown potential for violence which creates more suspense.
The more relaxed the scene between characters the more unrelenting it gets in scene of danger so scenes of danger are greatly magnified when scenes of calm are introduced before scenes of suspense it's almost like the elastic is turn around on the characters and the audience. The relaxation of certain scenes are just as strong as the suspenseful ones.
Information is given not to distort you but to further the performances and the story. There are lots of great characters within the film Jack Warden plays the aging detective father figure to De Mornay and Luis Guzmán has a small but good role as a cop. The cast was one of the many high lights of this film (Cinematography by Andrzej Bartkowiak,Original music by Howard Shore,Production Design by Philip Rosenberg)
I know a lot of people don't like this film but I think there's a lot of good within the film which clicked for me. I haven't heard someone liking it as much as myself, but I do think there must be a couple that thought of it more than just another thriller with little or no potential.
It comes across to me as a great B movie that had it been made in the 50's or 60's when this type of guerilla filmmaking was at it's peak it just might have been consider with the likes of ( D.O.A. , Lady from Shanghai , Lady in the Lake ) but who knows maybe just maybe in 10 or 15 years from now it just might become some sort of underestimated underground classic.
I can only hope that maybe reading this you will change your prespective or give it a chance or another look. I'm not say that it's ( Vertigo , The Night of the Hunter , Cape Fear , Touch of Evil ) or any kind of masterpeace just that for all the bad rap that it accumulated over the years I don't think it deserved it, not one bit of it.
There's always a possibility for danger De Mornay's character is put into vulnerable situations. The camera moves eerie & ominously weaving in and out acting like another person or in some way as Don Jonhnson's character. The camera dollies this way and that way giving off a dangerous quality that stays with you into the next scene.
Don Johnson, The bad guy is played vigorously one of the best villains of all time. His dialogue is spoken very slowly,quietly and with an understanding look on his face he also brakes into unnerving lashouts of anger and jelous fits.
Rebecca De Mornay is one of the only actresses to reminds me of the old classic Hollywood actresses Grace Kelly,Ingrid Bergman,Tippi Hedren,Lauren Becall etc...
There's a blocking of characters in certain scenes that's felt through-out the movie and is apparent in the way it was shot many front to back shots are used were one character is facing the camera and the other has his or her's back to the camera also other types of blocking accrues in the tight close-ups of the two main characters that gives the feeling that something is missing or that there is more to the scene then is beinginng showen.
To me it builds up in levels of tension these levels may feel like they are going down but it's a manipulation to get you to feel that it's easing and nothing is wrong but with each new scene the tension rises to a new high. Another thing with the Cinematography is the length at which scenes start of at (far to close) this acts like an elastic band first becoming stretched and then slowly letting lose but the losing of the elastic acts like an undetermined potential for vulnerability or danger. infact the stretching part is the tension and the losing is the unknown potential for violence which creates more suspense.
The more relaxed the scene between characters the more unrelenting it gets in scene of danger so scenes of danger are greatly magnified when scenes of calm are introduced before scenes of suspense it's almost like the elastic is turn around on the characters and the audience. The relaxation of certain scenes are just as strong as the suspenseful ones.
Information is given not to distort you but to further the performances and the story. There are lots of great characters within the film Jack Warden plays the aging detective father figure to De Mornay and Luis Guzmán has a small but good role as a cop. The cast was one of the many high lights of this film (Cinematography by Andrzej Bartkowiak,Original music by Howard Shore,Production Design by Philip Rosenberg)
I know a lot of people don't like this film but I think there's a lot of good within the film which clicked for me. I haven't heard someone liking it as much as myself, but I do think there must be a couple that thought of it more than just another thriller with little or no potential.
It comes across to me as a great B movie that had it been made in the 50's or 60's when this type of guerilla filmmaking was at it's peak it just might have been consider with the likes of ( D.O.A. , Lady from Shanghai , Lady in the Lake ) but who knows maybe just maybe in 10 or 15 years from now it just might become some sort of underestimated underground classic.
I can only hope that maybe reading this you will change your prespective or give it a chance or another look. I'm not say that it's ( Vertigo , The Night of the Hunter , Cape Fear , Touch of Evil ) or any kind of masterpeace just that for all the bad rap that it accumulated over the years I don't think it deserved it, not one bit of it.
Last edited by L .B . Jeffries; 01-13-02 at 06:56 AM.