Obviously you love it, but how good do you think Pickpocket is? I only ask as I saw it and didn't understand why it's regarded so highly as a film noir. I watched it, I liked it and I'd have no trouble watching it again. But I was surprised to see that it's rated so highly. Maybe it's just because there aren't many good ones?
I reckon there are plenty of good noirs, but I take it you're just not a fan of the genre?
And yeah, I do love
Pickpocket, very much so, and not because of any personal reasons or anything, I just agree with all the others who hold it in such high regard, and think it's a beautiful, masterpiece of a film.
It probably has the best use of a voice-over I've ever seen, with main character Michel's narration constantly giving insight to what's going through his mind, when most of the time he hardly says anything. Such a strong and subtle performance from Martin LaSalle, who almost always keeps an expressionless face, conveying so much emotion at the same time. It's a very straight-forward and direct narrative, and the narration helps it move along quickly, as well director Robert Bresson's focus on what's important, never showing us a single thing we don't need to see. With a running time of an hour and fifteen minutes, the film says a lot in such a short space of time, but also keeps many things a mystery. The pickpocketing scenes are done perfectly too. No music or dialougue in any of them, they can be highly intense or just simply impressive. The three-man-job at the train station is my favourite, upon first viewing I was amazed at both the pickpocketing techniques of the characters and the style in which Bresson presented them.
It's an artistic film that isn't artistic for the sake of it. It tells a good story while also examining the morales and reasoning behind becoming a thief. But yeah, that's why I hold it in such high regard. Perhaps give it another watch sometime and see if it differs from your first viewing.
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