I’ve been meaning to sorta write some film reviews, or start talking about film.. in this blog, since I started it.. but I haven’t done much of that.. I should confess, before I get on with it, that the way I relate to film is somewhat idiosyncratic.. and so my reviews / talking about it will be.. I probably won’t tell you what a film was about in a literal sense.. cause I’m not sure if that even matters to me.. we’ll.. you’ll see for your self if you read on.

So Micheal Clayton is a film… features George Clooney… who’s one of those few actors whom.. the chix seem to dig, and yet I dig as well..  My favorite performances of his probably being his stuff with the Coen Brothers.. and perhaps them heist films of his.

Anyway..

So the first thing that impressed me about Micheal Clayton was the cinematography.. the photography. There’s a kind of subtle beauty going on here.. 

Structurally.. things are not the usual, which I like.. no, we were in good hands here.. directorially speaking.. and how freaking rare that seems these days?!  You know.. modern Hollywood films.. what can we say of them? These are films that are.. so much more about commerce then art that.. well box office returns are more important then if the film is any good.. it’s not about artist concerns.. it’s about market concerns.. and the results are usually crap.. and at best a good pop corn film.. 

Well Michael Clayton doesn’t suffer from these sorts of things..  it’s a mature film, made by mature film makers, for a mature film going audience.. as a pose to… err.. I’m not even going to get into it.

So the structure is a deviation.. not a big deviation, but enough of one so that you don’t feel like…  Ok, I like my films to be a bit of an adventure.. where we don’t really know where we are going..  a film could be anything, and yet we are always sorta getting the same thing.. at least if we’re talking about the big Hollywood stuff.. I mean its as if they have a few emotional arches they feel the need to recycle endlessly…

I’m sorry.. this isn’t so hot of a film comment..   but..

I’m reminded of the first time I saw George Lucas’s THX1138.. Here’s a film who’s idea was to make a film that felt like a foreign film.. in the sense that we are being taken into a world that doesn’t even seem like it’s totally the product of our culture..  so its awesome in the adventure of it.. and its wonderful graphic style… cinematic conception.. lots of things.. we’re hanging with artists whom are inventing and creating…. Wonder why this doesn’t happen more..

I’m not meaning to put Michael Clayton on the same level as THX, or anything like that.. but just to say it has at least some of that kinda mojo going for it..  I mean yeah.. it does have the weakness of George Cloony…. the weakness of us having seen his work before.. we know what to expect from him.. so the adventure isn’t so.. far out, or anything but..  

Anyway.. so this is a film to see.. I recommend it as being…. drum roll please… not total crap

This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 8:48 am and is filed under film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.