Change Your Image
thaisbronwyn
Reviews
Startup.com (2001)
very disappointing
I didn't care much for this, it seemed too contrived for a documentary. Also, the filmmakers seemed to steer me towards certain characters, and yet I was completely unsympathetic towards the protagonist because of what they chose to show me of him.
This movie disappointed me because the story and the people were interesting, yet the movie fell flat because of snappy editing that didn't allow the viewer enough time to understand each scene. The developments in the story were glossed over in lieu of showing the men in boxers or other stuff that was incidental to the tale that they were telling.
I'd recommned that you skip this one and just read up on this story.
Dellamorte dellamore (1994)
does what great cinema ought to
the zombies are almost incidental to the film, it tells a much different story than the one i'd expected. The zombies do march the plot along, but this film has another agenda, and the most charming thing about it is that it raises more questions than it answers.
This does not mean that I wasn't terrified during several points, or that these zombies aren't any real threat. There's one scene in particular where the zombies appear so quickly that it's not only startling but actually one of the scariest zombie moments that I can recall.
How horrid that in the states the origninal titles are remade. The original title, or even Of love and death, is so much better than what I get to call it over here on this side of the pond. But over here films are very often made for the lowest common denominator, and I frequently bewail that. Now off my soapbox.
Another quality that I like about this film is that one could recommend it to a wide variety of people, as it has interesting stuff for all segments of society. Films that one might show to your intellectual friends as well as your not so intellectual friends are few and far between. There's something here for everyone, the typical zombie teetotaler included.
This film is one of the most visually rich I've ever seen, and definetly not what I expected in my search to sate my zombie craving. It filled the bill and then some, quickly climbing in my esteem to be one of my favorite films of all time, and not just one of my favorite zombie films, which are two separate things.
You cannot see this film just one time, I think it needs repeated viewings. I caught a lot with my first viewing, but I'm sure there's much more that I missed. Such as the film that the television gets changed to suddenly might have been Romero, but I need one more millisecond to determine that. Also a second (third, etc) viewing is planned because there are thematic elements that I'd like to look for again, with particular attention to light, which gets to play like it ought to in these frames.
Cinema should not be stoppable or rewindable. It was made for the big screen, and it should be larger than life. Although I saw it on my home television, it made me feel the theatre, and that's so rare in a movie that one can rent and take home for a time. This film satisfies me on so many different levels.
It's neat to see the zombie genre grow like this. I prefer zombies to vampires, but I still enjoy seeing the vampire genre grow, and this film does for zombies what Ann Rice does for vampires.
Lots of stuff here to discuss, I really liked all the existential themes, and it was very beautiful to suddenly realize how surrealistic everything had suddenly got. I found the special effects to do just what special effects are supposed to in a film, be there, move things along, but not distract you from the story or the intended effect.
All in all, I'd say it's one of the most effective uses of the medium that I can name off the top of my head, the scripting is elegant, the cinematography as only Italians can do, plus lots of love and as Harmony Korine says, "there can be no cinema without love" Wow.