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steve · 4540 days ago · link · · parent · post: Hubski Film Club - 12 Angry Men and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead...... thoughts?
12 Angry Men - This was a great film. If I have a complaint, it is that it was made according to a set of rules, spoken or unspoken. In older films, actors did not give lines over one another unless it was to invoke conflict - e.g., a blatant interruption. I'm kinda speaking out of my ass, but it seems like this was a tradition in theater which film inherited and didn't begin to change until the 60s & 70s when Altman and his contemporaries began layering conversations in a much more natural way. So when I watch an old film, I have to kind of reset my expectations, and be patient, knowing that each character has his/her turn speaking, and will only be cut across when some one has to interrupt, and the interruption is very deliberate.
That being said, I was completely enthralled and enjoyed every moment of the film. The acting, while classical, and a little staged, and a little sterile, was powerful, direct, and clean. The fact that I could watch twelve men in a room - the SAME room for 90 minutes and be interested the whole time - is saying something. BtDKYD - I need more time to reflect on it. I watched it a few months ago, and frankly, I love me som Philip Seymour Hoffman. I will watch laundry detergent commercials if he is in them. I think he is amazing. He's a completely despicable scumbag in this film - but he nails it. More on this film later.
thenewgreen · 4539 days ago · link ·
You're observation about actors not talking over one another is right on the money. In most films from this era it takes me out of the film. That's one of the reasons I liked this movie so much. Because it is set as a group of jurors around a table taking turns talking, this sort of dialog doesn't seem unbelievable. It actually works. If people were in this type of setting they would refrain from talking over one another except in instances when a character has to interrupt.
Good observation Steve, I just think it's what actually makes this film work more than its contemporaries.