Academy Award nominee May December and, now, Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils are cut from the same cloth. Yet, I don’t know how to classify these types of heightened melodramas. These movies are not outright funny, but they have strange moments that are so deliberately jarring, the audience can’t help but giggle out of confusion. While this is a unique concoction, and can help the filmmaker achieve a specific brand of campiness, juxtaposing heavy themes within this…
In First Reformed, writer/director Paul Schrader tells a story about characters living in excruciating personal turmoil. He then gradually develops his movie to be more visceral, so the audience can experience similar pain. You would think keeping movie goers in a state of compelling discomfort would be a tricky balancing act for Schrader, but he succeeds with ease; almost as if this area of emotional discomfort is a particular wheelhouse for the Taxi Driver screenwriter.
By: Addison Wylie Tom Hooper wowed audiences with The King’s Speech. Well, most audiences – I thought it was inspirational but ordinary, with stylistic cinematography that overshadowed many elements of the story. Nonetheless, his film won multiple Oscars; including Best Picture. He may follow suit with his adaptation of Les Misérables; in both the award garnering sense and the cinematography sense. Hooper has brought his shooting style to his latest feature following Jean Valjean (played…