I thought Layer Cake looked and sounded pretty damn good, but next to TCoL it looks like a 80s pirate of E.T. If this is what is meant by ‘Italian Style’ – open up the main line and pump me full of it.
The central premise – how does a man who has forgotten how to love begin loving? - is masterfully handled by Sorrentino (although I’m still not sure on a couple of plot points), who clearly believes in not just trampling over Hollywood genre restrictions (it took me thirty minutes to figure out this is a genre film) but making the audience work for the answers, too. In many ways I’m reminded of Coppola’s Harry Caul from The Conversation, but stone-faced and impenetrable Toni Servillo beats him in one of the most nuanced performances I’ve seen in a long time.
Sorrentino has this weird and somewhat paradoxical ability (almost Herzogesque) to hypnotise the viewer by turning the pace down to practically dead stop. I find it impossible to convey in words how cool the opening scene – the camera tracking a lone, statue-like man creeping toward the viewer on a long airport walkway, for almost three minutes – is without making it sound terribly boring, and this couldn’t be further from the truth.
The Euro (mainly) techno/trance score works perfectly, but the highest praise must be awarded to the camerawork. I don’t think I’ve seen style and innovation come together so beautifully. The 180 degree track of Servillo shooting up heroin is fucking breathtaking.
Not that I needed reminding … but … I really have to stop paying as much attention to American cinema. There is a pile of great (non-English language) European (and beyond) directors out there and I’m just pissing my money away on a lot of the formulaic junk being spewed at me from the west.
Looking at IMDB I see this is only Sorrentino’s second major feature. Whatever his next film is – my ass is in the chair.
The central premise – how does a man who has forgotten how to love begin loving? - is masterfully handled by Sorrentino (although I’m still not sure on a couple of plot points), who clearly believes in not just trampling over Hollywood genre restrictions (it took me thirty minutes to figure out this is a genre film) but making the audience work for the answers, too. In many ways I’m reminded of Coppola’s Harry Caul from The Conversation, but stone-faced and impenetrable Toni Servillo beats him in one of the most nuanced performances I’ve seen in a long time.
Sorrentino has this weird and somewhat paradoxical ability (almost Herzogesque) to hypnotise the viewer by turning the pace down to practically dead stop. I find it impossible to convey in words how cool the opening scene – the camera tracking a lone, statue-like man creeping toward the viewer on a long airport walkway, for almost three minutes – is without making it sound terribly boring, and this couldn’t be further from the truth.
The Euro (mainly) techno/trance score works perfectly, but the highest praise must be awarded to the camerawork. I don’t think I’ve seen style and innovation come together so beautifully. The 180 degree track of Servillo shooting up heroin is fucking breathtaking.
Not that I needed reminding … but … I really have to stop paying as much attention to American cinema. There is a pile of great (non-English language) European (and beyond) directors out there and I’m just pissing my money away on a lot of the formulaic junk being spewed at me from the west.
Looking at IMDB I see this is only Sorrentino’s second major feature. Whatever his next film is – my ass is in the chair.
