Tuesday August 30, 2011

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari- First time seeing this 1919 classic, and even if it is a little slow and you have seen its influence like a billion times by now (wink 'Shutter Island'), it's still amazing to know that it dates back as early as the 20s. It has a lot of creative and interesting direction to it, especially coming from its genius artistic choices in background and lighting. The style of German Expressionism is really interesting and I have always loved the idea of telling a story with only actions (there is dialogue, but it's a silent film… so you know... not really). I've been meaning to get to it, but it's always daunting to take on a silent or really old film. Although, as soon as you get through it, it gets you thinking. The only problem is that it's a 70 minute film that feels like 2 hours. Maybe if they gave me more background, let me get to know the main character (Francis)'s friend, Alan, I might have cared more about his survival, or how about the girlfriend character, who I didn't even know her name (it's Jane) until like 3 or so minutes left in the film. From an analytical point, it's a really interesting film since Robert Wiene uses the style to confuse the audience in a way that another film using the same style wouldn't. What I mean by this is that Wiene makes the Expressionism a logical plot point instead of it being just a movement. Not a perfect experience, but an entertaining, and inspiring one.



- Jeff Bassin