A strong debut from Joe Talbot – It’s not Kogonads’s Columbus or Steve McQueen’s Hunger– this one runs out of steam (those first 5 minutes here are so impressive) but still- excited to see what Talbot does next—closer to like Richard Ayoade’s Submarine (still a tremendous compliment)
From the first image (an adorable young girl juxtaposed with a guy in a biohazard suit) which is incredibly crisp—the first 5 minutes are a whirlwind of gorgeous film style— slow-motion photography and Zooms—a wonderful use of zooms in 2019 which is a breath of fresh air- a very original film. I couldn’t find the source of the music during this section (whether it’s from Emile Mosseri’s score or not) but it’s an energetic jig
It’s neorealism in material—painfully sad (Jimmie Falls does a great joke with that face invoking empathy and pathos) but there’s magical realism in the tone – very Beats of the Southern Wild (another strong debut that runs out of steam a little after a jaw-dropping start) and expressionistic – great blocking of characters, I love the shot of Jonathan Majors on the dock
A meditation on gentrification
Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing isn’t specifically about gentrification but the way Talbot shoots and creates his San Francisco feels very specific to the expressionistic creation of Brooklyn by Lee– an angry love letter to a city
Leave A Comment