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The Parallax View


THE PARALLAX VIEW
(1974, Pakula)
A film from the Criterion Collection whose number includes the #10 • A thriller film



"You've got information I need. Money doesn't mean anything to me. This story's gonna mean more to me than ten thousand dollars."

The Parallax View follows reporter Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) who starts investigating the circumstances around the assassination of a presidential candidate 3 years prior. As a result, he discovers a conspiracy around a mysterious organization called Parallax who might be planning future attempts.

This is a film I had been hearing very positive things during the last few years, and for the most part, deservedly so. The film is very intriguing, and the direction by Pakula is very tight. Beatty (who I hadn't seen much of, but for some reason have seen 3 or 4 films of in the last year) is very good as the lead.

However, for some reason, I felt detached from a lot of this, especially the last act. I'm writing this 4 or 5 days after watching it, and I'm seriously trying to figure out what to write. It is competently made from almost every aspect, but still didn't really reel me in. Moreover, the circumstances surrounding Joe's own visit to Parallax seemed confusing to me.

Overall, I thought the film is worth a watch, and it has a very cynical ending that, to be honest, didn't really surprise me. But despite how well it is made, it's really not something that resonated with me. It pretty much went through the beats I would expect it to go, and although it did so in a good way, I really didn't get much out of that.

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