Discussion yay!
Don't strawman me though yall. I didn't say
The Godfather isn't great or that I didn't like it. It's a truly great film. But like
CK, I don't get why it's just instantly assumed to be number one. I feel like these professional listmakers are just too slanted towards some kind of assumed tradition. Members of AFI who dissent are probably just chewed out as trolls. What makes
The Godfather better than Coppola's other great masterpiece
Apocalypse Now? I say nothing. I say Brando is better in
AN. I say the images in
AN are some of the most beautifully haunting ever put on screen. This is not to automatically say that Brando was **** in
TG. God no. I was more moved by
AN bombastic style over
TG's subtleties.
For
SL and
FG.
As films, they were fine. The cinematography in
Schindler's List is especially beautiful.
Forrest Gump had a lot of fun historical synchronicity. But as someone I know said, "if only form mattered,
Birth of a Nation would probably be hailed as the greatest film of all time." Sometimes, ideology comes into play a great deal.
SL and
FG were so bad in this department, I left both of them feeling empty and massively disappoint.
1.
SL - There singular moment of genius that this film is hailed for. When Schindler sees the little girl running around the ghetto in her red dress while people are getting killed. This moment is special because of the color on black and white, a powerful technique. But ask yourself what this moment means. It's the moment the Jews themselves become technicolor. Their struggle becomes real for Schindler at this moment. THIS ONE MOMENT.
This is the moment of obscenity. Schindler is like a machine from this point on. A Jew-saving robot, programmed for good. It says nothing of his internal struggles, the true source of his greatness. The greatness in Schindler is that he went to all the Nazi parties and still managed to do good. The moral greatness is that he was able to overcome his immediate zeitgeist in the face of suffering. The film reduces this to a single moment.
Schindler is switched ON now everybody.
It's like that movie
Pollock were Ed Harris knocks down some paint accidentally and bam THIS ONE MOMENT represents his entire genius, his entire greatness.
Pollock is switched ON now everybody.
It treats greatness in dummy terms. You see something and you are different. No. We go through great inner turmoil to do the right thing. Overcoming this is what makes Schindler a true hero.
2.
FG - Interestingly enough, almost the same criticism. What we
should feel is exactly undermined in script for some kind of inexplicable necessity of plot development/characterization. I know it's an adaptation of a novel, but a work of art is a work of art.
Is
FG not about how simple, authentic goodness and true love can lead to success? Is this not the inspirational message of the film?
This is exactly what doesn't happen in
FG. Forrest is anything by simple or authentic. I mean, he is personally, but he's not portrayed as such. First of all, he has superhuman speed. WTF? Second of all he's just amazing at ping pong apparently? Also WTF? These are astounding talents that should be rewarded, but THEY are what make him succeed. There is no message of inspiration. None of us are that fast or good at ping pong. Unless the film was aimed towards that strata of people? It undermines itself with this stupid superhuman stuff. Why, I ask? It was fun to watch, but the message was lost entirely.
Jenny only wants to be with him when he's a decorated soldier and on television. Isn't that convenient? I'm a good feminist so the caricature of the opportunistic gold-digger taking advantage of a man is very evident here. Simply, it is obscene. Life is like a box of chocolates, but Forrest Gump might be the most genetically perfect human being on the planet except for his mental capacities.
Discuss.