1945 slapstick comedyRating: 18/20
Plot: It's just like every skit that I ever saw on The Benny Hill show except with more Nazis and no "Yakety Sax" at all.
Stark, powerful look at the life of ordinary people and folks involving themselves in the Resistenza near the end of World War II, the "Not-So-Great" War. There aren't special effects or exterior sets needed. This was filmed right after the Germans were booted, and maybe better than any movie I can remember, it shows everything like it really was, even more than a documentary would. And definitely more than an Ernest movie would! The characters and their motivations are sketches, but I liked that. It made some of the twists in the story more twisty and helped lend a realism to everything that was going on. It never really felt like I was watching a movie. To be completely honest, it didn't always feel like I was watching a good movie. The lighting is bad in spots, and it looks cheaply produced at times. But when you take the film in context, it's impressive stuff and somehow seems to give the movie more ummph. It's really Open City's rough edges that make it the experience that it is. It's not the happiest movie you'll ever see, especially the devastating final fifteen minutes, but it's probably a movie you should see anyway.
4 comments:
Good review. The final 15 minutes is very powerful and I would give it a 17. Foreign replacement: offbeat Japanese film called "Departures".
Requested from my library!
I should see '49 Up' (which I've had on the shelf for a long time) and 'The Right Stuff' soon. 'Little Children' is on IFC or Sundance the day after Christmas. Oh, I might watch that Wilder movie (can't remember the title) before the end of the year.
Have you seen Mike Leigh's 'Naked'? And I'll second Larsto's recommendation of 'Slacker' because I loved that movie.
You are making my day!(the Wilder is "Ace in the Hole" aka "The Big Carnival") I have seen "Naked" but will be happy to add "Slackers" (I'll see it next week). I am not making it a "five", but have you ever seen Leigh's "Secrets and Lies"? I see you're charging hard down the backstretch to reach 365 movies, once again. I can only say you continue to amaze.
I almost messed up since I have never heard of "Slacker" and assumed it was "Slackers". "Slacker" is on my queue.
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