1991 best picture
Rating: 16/20
Plot: Prospective FBI agent Clarice is recruited to chat it up with notorious serial killer and cannibal Hannibal Lecter in order to help the agency capture another guy who kidnaps women for their skin.
This movie has a trio of great scenes mixed into a character study about a character I just didn't find very interesting. The three scenes:
1) The best scene in the movie is where Lecter touches Clarice's fingers. A lot of the film has to do with their complex relationship, and that scene stands out.
2) The second best scene involves Stuart Rudin's character, Miggs. I'd imagine Rudin has had a career trying to not be the guy who flings his jism at Jodie Foster like a naughty monkey a few minutes after he screamed, "I can smell your cunt!" at her.
3) Hannibal's escape scene is thrilling, I guess, but really only if you're seeing it for the first time.
This has about as much style as a television cop drama. It's not gritty, it's not flashy, and it's not unique in any way. The story's just kind of there. And even more disappointing is that the title is really misleading. There's not a single lamb in this movie. I enjoyed the performance from Hopkins, who I don't believe blinks a single time in this movie, the kind of psychopath that a lot of actors have done their best to duplicate for the last thirty years. Foster's fine, but I don't the character lacks dimensions even though they did everything they could to give her a nice Hollywood backstory. I'm sure feminists would appreciate the character, but I don't find it all that believable that she would be sent out on the assignment in the first place. My favorite scene with her character was a shot where she was circled by a bunch of guy cops in a funeral home. Ted Levine's Buffalo Bill was a generic psychopath, but the scene where he's posing in front of a mirror with his Li'l Bill tucked between his legs is one that haunted me for months after I saw this for the first time. The butterfly or moth or whatever thing was a little silly, and I actually laughed out loud when Clarice announced, "He's making a woman suit!" Not my favorite Best Picture winner despite that line.
2 comments:
i think i gave it a 15. i liked levine. he was the best thing going in this movie. 2nd best was the escape. jodie foster's "southern" accent was awful. the assignment she was given was a little too suspension of disbelief. i watched this for the first time a few months back and i already knew the whole story. if a movie can be reduced to a few one liners how deep can it be? the 2nd one is almost a comedy.
I have never been a Foster fan, but she does well in this. I would completely disagree about the film not being unique (at least when it was made), the story just being there, and BB being generic. The film is shocking in both it's zaction, dialogue, and especially the psychology of the two villians. There are several unforgettable scenes, and while I have never been a big fan of the scene when she shoots Bill, I have always loved the ending where Lecter says he is going to have an old friend for dinner. This is a dark and daring film that manages to make a cannibal a sort of anti-hero. An 18.
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