Just watched this again for the millionth time. I hold this movie in really high regard, it was the first where ‘movies’ became ‘films’ for me. I think part of the reason is that Michael Mann is a stylistically bold film maker. Thus when I first saw Manhunter it was glaringly obvious that he was using sound and visuals to create a certain mood.
It was the first film that made me appreciate film making as a craft. The cinematograpy is excellent as it is in all of Mann’s films, he takes it further by treating each scene like a painting. He is a master at scene composition and you can see this in the way he uses architecture as well a lighting to propel the story.
People have accused Mann of being more style then substance but that is a very simplistic view (Michael Bay anyone?). He is striving for an emotional depth but he is also one of the few directors who understands what is needed both visually and aurally to create a film.
Besides anyone who decides to end a film with a shoot out involving a serial kiler and the cop chasing him all soundtracked to Iron Butterfly’s In-a-Gadda-da-Vida deserves an Oscar end of story!
May 27, 2007 at 9:34 pm |
I heartily approve of this update.
See ya tomorrow for ‘Pirates’.